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The thing about paranoia is that it is one of the easiest human emotions to milk. Like a ductile copper wire, it can be stretched in both directions – the reason why it is so useful for elements with vested interests.

Paranoia in the country set in sometime early last year when a “Hindu nationalist” – as western publications have often unimaginatively described Narendra Modi – looked imminent to be the next Prime Minister.  Much garbage has been dumped in the Ganga since. The paranoia, however, remains intact – and from it have profited the unlikeliest of beings.

April 6, Rampur, Western Uttar Pradesh: The city municipality corporation, set out to “mark” (as the jargon goes) properties in a colony, which were to be demolished to broaden the road leading to a new mall. It had tried doing the same last June too, but was forced to retreat by a hostile set of residents. This time, though, it was better prepared. Accompanying its officials was Station House Officer (SHO) of Kotwali Police Station, Harish Chandra Joshi and his force. But since demolition was not on the day’s agenda, and there was no resistance from the residents, there was no use of force.

April 7: The residents of the colony submitted a memorandum to the Governor, pleading that their houses not be demolished since they had been living in the area for more than 60 years.

One of those municipality-resident clashes that you invariably come across in a small corner of the newspaper but never actually read, then? It would have been so if not for the religious and caste affiliations of the players involved and the political dynamics of Rampur, a Muslim-dominated region with a controversial Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Azam Khan.  Also don’t forget: paranoia.

The colony in question is wholly occupied by the Valmiki community, the second-largest Scheduled Caste in India. The residents, in their memorandum to the governor, stated that an officer of the municipal committee had told them that the only way to save their homes was by converting to Islam. (Newslaundry has examined a copy of the memorandum.) They also alleged that the Executive Officer of the civic body had made casteist remarks.

Expectedly, the story blew up. The Times of India reported that “more than 800 Valmikis ‘convert’ to Islam in UP’s Rampur to save homes from demolition”. The Indian Express carried a story with the headline, “Valmikis ‘convert’ to Islam by wearing skull caps”. “In Azam Khan’s Rampur, over 800 Balmikis convert to Islam,” proclaimed IndiaTV. NewsX’s website carried a story with a similar headline as India TV. This particular potential demolition exercise definitely wasn’t relegated to a snippet. R Jagannathan, editor of Firstpost, even wrote an opinion piece on the issue, claiming that religious conversions are rarely ever genuine.  Rampur became Peepli quickly, and rather dramatically.

This was obviously a goldmine for Twitter, particularly the Right wing, who complained about the lack of “secular outrage”.

Soon though, the story took a curious turn with newspapers reporting that Islam clerics refused to convert the residents, opining that it was “un-Islamic” to convert by blackmailing tactics. India TV, though, maintained that “no special ritual, ceremony, or even presence of a religious leader is required for conversion to Islam. All one needs to have to convert is ‘niyat’ (true belief in Islam), recite the ‘qalma’ and have faith that Mohammed was the last prophet of God. Even circumcision, after a certain age, is not necessary”.

Confused?  We surely were. So we decided to hit the highway, spend a day in Rampur and speak to all the parties concerned.

11 am, April 18, Valmiki Colony, Rampur: Amar Adivsai tells me he is a social worker. “I am still paying off the loan I took to construct this house. Where am I supposed to go from here?”  According to Adivasi, his father was on the cleaning staff of the city municipality corporation and they had been given land by the local administration. “We have been paying taxes but as our parents didn’t understand the significance of documents then, there’s no way to prove that now,” he laments.

So, what exactly transpired on April 6? Adivasi tells me that he wasn’t present then. “Shaftay Nabi told our women that the colony would be demolished if we didn’t convert to Islam,” he says.  When I insist on speaking to an eyewitness, he offers to get one for me. A person is sent off immediately and two old women, who can barely stand straight, are presented.  One of them tell me what Adivasi has already told me. Both versions are consistent.

When I ask Adivasi about the conversion confusion, he says that they didn’t convert. “Maulvi Tukan Raza from Amroha told us that you can’t convert by coercion or force, so we just knelt a prayed to Allah. There’s no restriction on asking from dua from Allah,” he tells me.

2 pm, Thana 3, Madrasa Faisal Uloom, Rampur:  We are in Rampur Municipal Committee Draughtsman Shaftay Nabi’s living room. He has a sty on his left eye and complains of pain as he smokes a cigarette.  I ask Nabi whether he did say what he is accused of. I expect a hostile reaction, but Nabi is calm and instead picks up a copy of the Constitution. He quotes a Supreme Court judgment, according to which, “plaintiff cannot ask for possession of any part of the public pathway, as it continues to vest in the Municipality”.

“All roads are being broadened in the city. Since last year, we’ve demolished more than 100 houses, the majority of which had Muslim occupants. Even Madrasas, which came in the way have been demolished,” says Nabi, coolly.  Nabi says he was there with five of his colleagues and senior cops.  “Four of the other six municipal committee officials were Hindus. You could check,” he tells me. According to Nabi, the district administration was in the know of the plan and it was a consultative exercise. “I have been doing this for 32 years, but today one accusation, and my integrity is being questioned,” he raises his voice for the first time.

3 pm, Vishwa Hindu Parishad Office, Rampur:  Navin Kumar, who says he’s from the Sangh, is annoyed when I ask him what prompted them to join the agitation of the Valmiki residents. “We don’t discriminate on grounds of religion and caste when it comes to public service,” he tells me sternly.  Kumar, though, lets go of his “we-view-all-equally” line quite quickly over the next fifteen minutes. “Rampur is a Muslim-dominated area and Azam Khan has deliberately targeted our Hindu brothers. Muslim properties are not being touched,” he asserts. “Do the VHP and Sangh have a plan to counter this?” I ask. “The Lok Sabha elections went our way, soon things will change,” he says. Kumar then tells me how the administration of Rampur has colluded with Khan to harass Hindus under the garb of development.  “Khan will get you picked up from here if he gets to know you are writing anything against him,” he warns me.

4 pm, Kotwali Police Station, Rampur:  After much persuasion, a senior police officer, present on location on April 6, agrees to speak but on the condition of anonymity.  He tells me that there were indeed other Hindu officers with Nabi on that day. “I didn’t hear him say anything inflammatory or improper,” he states.  According to the cop, the residents of the Valmiki colony had been engaged in dialogues with local authorities for a long time. “They were offered alternative housing under the Kashi Ram Housing Scheme, but they declined the offer. That led to the break-down of talks,” he claims.

When I enquire with him why the mosque adjoining the mall on the other side of the road wasn’t being brought down, he said the mosque, as part of the original plan, was supposed to be an extension of the mall itself where people could offer prayers. “I have been posted throughout Western UP and I think significant developmental work has indeed happened in Rampur, it’s unfair to say Hindus are being selectively targeted,” he says. The officer, who is Hindu himself, tells me that he has supervised the demolition of more than one Madrasa that was obstructing a proposed road.

6 pm, Valmiki Colony, Rampur:  We are looking for a woman who India TV had quoted in a news bulletin.  “We have been told by Azam Khan to convert to Islam if we want to save our homes,” she says to the channel’s reporter. When the reporter asks her who Khan said that to, “hume kaha [he told us], she says.

Armed with a picture of the woman, we ask for the coordinates of her house. A young man directs us to a house, the gates of which are guarded by a leashed dog. But as we are about to enter, we are stopped by loud voices from a distance.  There is a gathering of men and we are summoned. When I explain that I want to speak to the woman, I am flatly refused. “We have said what we had to, you can’t meet her,” one of them tells me in an almost confrontational tone. I tell them that I only want to confirm if it was Khan or Nabi who had told them to convert to Islam. “The matter is finished. There’s nothing more to talk about it,” says an aged man with an air of finality.

The next day, I am woken up by a call from Kumar Eklavya, the man who had led the protests. Eklavya wasn’t present the previous day, and I couldn’t interview him. After exchanging pleasantries, I ask Ekalavya the question that remained unanswered the previous day. “I wasn’t there – Nabi told Amar Adivasi that we’d have to convert if we want to save our homes,” he says confidently. Getting over my initial surprise, I tell him that Adivasi had categorically told me he wasn’t present when Nabi allegedly said that. He hangs up soon, mumbling something along the lines that the issue is dead.

It very much is. The colony will stay. Nabi will face an enquiry.  A development that would have been otherwise tucked away in a two-inch column in the middle pages of a daily paper became national news. Agra is less than 250 kilometres away from Rampur – but gharwapsi was turned on its head to give it a completely new meaning.  The paranoia worked again – albeit in the reverse fashion.

The press played along with headlines that screamed forced conversion when testimonies of people in Rampur point to the fact that no real conversion ever happened. Whether the residents were threatened or not is for an enquiry to settle. But could the media have shown more restraint in reporting or at least bothered to carry both versions of the story? Perhaps not in a market where speed trumps accuracy and sensation trumps sense, even though many try to convince you otherwise.

Pictures and additional inputs: Kartik Nijhawan