Stones were thrown at several cars in the convoy of BJP national president J.P. Nadda en route to Diamond Harbour on Thursday.

The BJP described it as an example of the “lawlessness” in Bengal, and Union home minister Amit Shah tweeted that the Centre was “seriously looking into the matter”.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP and Nadda of indulging in “nautanki (drama)”.

A Trinamul MLA said a convert to the BJP had made abusive gestures at a crowd gathered to protest the farm bills, triggering the incident.

Residents at the Shirakol crossing, a little over 32km from Calcutta, said they were relieved that the incident did not snowball. Over 40 per cent of the population in the area is Muslim, and mischief-mongers could have fomented trouble elsewhere in the age of fake news.

“The police did well to contain the situation,” a teacher said.

Nadda — travelling in a bullet-proof car — reached the venue as scheduled and unhurt.

“Shri J.P. Nadda… reached safely at the venue…. Nothing happened to his convoy. Few bystanders at Debipur, Falta PS, sporadically and suddenly threw stones towards vehicles trailing long behind his convoy,” Bengal police tweeted.

“Everyone is safe and the situation is peaceful.”

The BJP claimed that at least 17 cars and 127 bikes were damaged and 35 bikes could not be found. The party said its Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya and national vice-president Mukul Roy were injured.

“Today I could reach here only because of the blessings of Ma Durga,” Nadda said while addressing party workers at Diamond Harbour’s Radio Station ground. Nadda was on a two-day trip to the state to prepare the BJP for the upcoming polls.

“What I saw today on my way here proved the lawlessness and intolerance prevailing in this state. Trinamul goons left no stones unturned to stop us,” he said during his speech, delivered on the home turf of Trinamul MP Abhishek Banerjee who represents Diamond Harbour in the Lok Sabha.

Several BJP leaders blamed three Trinamul legislators — Giasuddin Molla, Saokat Molla and Sonali Guha — for the incident at Shirakol.

Giasuddin, the local MLA, said he and the others had assembled for a protest programme against the farm bills. “The incident shouldn’t have happened. Saokat-da was continuously asking the crowd to be peaceful and let the convoy pass,” Giasuddin told The Telegraph.

He said the crowd reacted because Rakesh Singh, a Congress turncoat now in the BJP, had made abusive gestures at the people gathered for the Trinamul programme.
The Union home ministry has sought a report from the state government.