As a frequent traveller to foreign lands, may I begin by stating humbly but categorically that in my view there is no non-Muslim country in the world in which Muslims have more freedom to practice their religion and culture than India. The rise of radical Islam and the continuing horror of global terrorism have made Muslims into international pariahs in most of the western world. And they are not that popular in places like Thailand and Bali either. In India, despite the Kashmir jihad having been replaced by a more general-purpose jihad against Hindus and the idea of India, the status of the average Muslim remains largely unchanged. This is why the prime minister could have done the country no bigger disservice than to give us the Sachar Committee and its whining report, whose only achievement is that it has heightened a sense of grievance in those Muslims who already had one.

When the committee was appointed, this column pointed out that the main result of its efforts would be to divide the country further and to give India an undeserved bad name. This is already happening. Anyone with doubts should refer to an article that appeared in London’s highly respected Financial Times newspaper last weekend under the headline ‘Loathe thy Neighbour’. It used the Sachar Committee’s report to damn India for its supposed ill treatment of Muslims. Listen to this: “The Sachar committee found that India’s Muslims, constantly battling perceptions that they are ‘anti-national’, ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘belong in Pakistan’ are reluctantly withdrawing or being pushed into ghettos. Markers of their identity, such as the burqa, the purdah, the beard and the topi, a Muslim cap, invite ridicule and harassment. Bearded men find they are routinely picked up for interrogation, hijab-wearing women that they struggle to find jobs.”

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