Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the BJP and its chief J.P. Nadda of “nautanki (drama)” to grab headlines whenever their programmes flop in Bengal, alleging Thursday’s Diamond Harbour incident was “staged” by the saffron camp, hours after the BJP used it to claim the collapse of law and order in Bengal.

The chief minister, at a sit-in demonstration of her party at Mayo Road in Calcutta in solidarity with farmers’ agitation, also named Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government in her accusation.

“Every single day, this chief minister, that Union minister, this leader, that leader, coming here… they have no work at all…. From the Union home minister (Amit Shah) to Chadda, Nadda, Phadda, Bhadda, Gadda… all of them, coming here for programmes,” said Mamata, apparently furious over the BJP’s deployment of a battery of heavyweights in its quest to conquer Bengal in the state polls next summer.

“Whenever they conduct something, and they won’t get decent crowds here, so they will stage incidents. Nautanki, so that national news pays them enough attention,” added the Trinamul Congress chief. “Who was waiting and watching, with cameras, on the road? Such precise angles, such capture of key moments. Even how the last car of the convoy is allegedly getting hit, who recorded that? Was it all planned?”

The diatribe from Mamata, also the state home minister, came hours after the state police issued a statement asserting everyone was safe.

In the afternoon, senior officials of the Diamond Harbour police district visited the spots where some vehicles in Nadda’s convoy were allegedly attacked with stones and brickbats, and spoke to a few witnesses. A detailed report would reach the state home department by Friday, sources said. Ahead of the report, the state police came up with two tweets that said Nadda had reached the venue safely.

“Shri JP Nadda, National President, BJP reached safely at the venue, Diamond Harbour, South 24 Pgs. Nothing happened to his convoy. Few bystanders at Debipur, Falta PS, Diamond Harbour PD, sporadically and suddenly threw stones towards vehicles trailing long behind his convoy,” the police tweeted.

“Everyone is safe and situation is peaceful. Matter is being investigated to find out actual happenings,” the police said in a second tweet.

“Even if a small incident took place, although I don’t see how that’s possible…. I have told police to probe everything. We will not tolerate every lie. Enough is enough,” said Mamata.

She demanded answers on the size of Nadda’s convoy.

“Why do you have scores of cars in your convoys, when I can manage with two or three? It is a safety issue… I am saying this from a place of genuine concern. You, the BJP, should control this,” she said.

The chief minister asked why the state government had to shoulder the blame of any security lapse when such leaders bring their own security cover, manned by central forces personnel.

“Even the most unimportant, uneducated leaders, even goons of your party get at least four security personnel… with big guns, from the Centre. Only central forces, CISF, CRPF, commandos…. How then do they touch your cars, despite all that?” she asked.

“You don’t rely on our security cover, you only take central forces. You don’t even let the state know and provide security cover on your own, although law and order is a state subject. But whenever there is a problem, you will abuse the state,” she added.

Mamata also accused the BJP-led Centre of using diversions to distract whenever it finds itself in a corner because of its “anti-people policies”.

“The Narendra Modi babu government only does drama, stages incidents, manufactures videos, sends to all media houses. The media is powerless. The journalists have no fault. The owners have all been purchased. If the owners don’t obey, their channels will be blacked out,” she alleged.

Citing instances of “diversionary tactics”, she said: “When the anti-citizenship matrix movement was at its peak, the Delhi riots… the accurate casualty count is yet to be released…. Similarly, with the farmers’ movement… some nautanki. Now they might say Pakistan attacking, Israel attacking, Nepal attacking, forget the farmers,” she added. “This is a huge game by the BJP. This is how Hitler rose, as did Mussolini, Ceausescu… all of them.”