Calcutta, Feb. 22 :     After Mitra in the north, it was the turn of Priya cinema in the south to feel the heat of Hey Ram on Tuesday. Members of the state Congress unit, Chhatra Parishad, Youth Congress and Seva Dal, demanding that the screening of Kamal Hassan's film 'denigrating Mahatma Gandhi' be stopped, tore down posters, smashed lights, glow signs and a glass window - all in the presence of a posse of policemen who preferred to wait and watch. Two attacks carried out by Congress activists in two days forced the party high command to step in. The AICC conveyed its displeasure over the manner in which the two halls had been vandalised by party supporters and demanded an explanation. After the rap from Delhi, PCC vice-president Pradip Bhattacharya directed the Chhatra Parishad not to agitate against the film from Wednesday. A gang of about 60 protestors, led by PCC members Sudhangshu Shekhar Roy and Pradip Mitra, descended on the hall beside Deshapriya Park before the start of the noon show, on Tuesday. The mob, which included 15-odd women, raised angry slogans against 'BJP agents' airing the 'filthy film'. Some of the protesters claimed that the film had been passed by the BJP-run central censor board to 'insult Gandhiji'. And, in a new twist to the tale, to 'humiliate Jibanananda'. Apparently, the scene where Rani Mukherjee (Kamal Hassan's Bengali bride) recites a work of the late poet is 'vulgar and provocative'. Some college girls who had come for the film were heckled for being 'BJP supporters'. 'When we tried to force our way into the hall, they surrounded us and started abusing us. We couldn't believe this was happening to us here,' said a visibly-shaken young girl. After a small force from Lake police station reached the spot, the agitators turned violent, brick-batting the hall and attacking its entry points. It was not until reinforcements were rushed in from nearby Gariahat and Tollygunge police stations and two people had been injured in the brick-batting, did the police force get into the act. A mild lathicharge and the arrest of seven demonstrators was enough to disperse the mob. The noon show got under way, after a half-an-hour delay. 'There is no question of stopping the screening. In fact, with this ugly act, the Congress-backed protesters have defeated their own purpose. A film that would not have run for more than two-three weeks otherwise, will now stay on for much longer,' said hall-owner Arijit Dutta. Police pickets have been posted in all halls screening the film, which tells the story of Saket Ram, who plans to kill Mahatma Gandhi until he has a change of heart before the end. 'The Congress party should stop its organisations from committing such nuisance. We will not tolerate such vandalism. The police have been asked to take action against those involved,'' said deputy chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya. The attacks have obviously embarrassed the Congress high command, which has repeatedly accused the Sangh parivar of resorting to 'cultural policing and fascist methods'. 'We do not believe in the use of force or violence to achieve any objective. We always follow the Gandhian principle of non-violence,' said spokesman Ajit Jogi. 'The initial protest by the students' wing is nothing but an emotional outburst against the portrayal of Gandhiji,' argued Pradip Bhattacharya. Mamata Banerjee's Trinamul Congress has said that the violent demonstration was in 'bad taste'. Members of the ruling coalition in West Bengal have decided to protest the 'unjustified attacks'. 'What is scary is the tendency of political parties in search of issues to use popular sentiments to whip up passions which leads to violence,' said filmmaker Buddhadev Dasgupta.