SHIMLA, Aug 17 — The issue of desecration of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at Hamirpur rocked the Himachal Assembly on the opening day of the monsoon session here today.

Noisy scenes were witnessed repeatedly when the issue was raised in the House by Mr Jai Ram of the BJP through a call attention motion. Trouble arose when the Speaker, Mr Gulab Singh, asked Mr B.R. Mandyal to speak on the motion. Mr Virbhadra Singh, Leader of the Opposition, was on his feet immediately raising a point of order that Mr Mandyal’s motion was not listed in the agenda for the day. The Speaker maintained that an amended agenda had been circulated in which the call attention motion of Mr Mandyal and Mr Baldev Sharma had been included.

This, however, did not satisfy Mr Virbhadra Singh and other Opposition members who protested that they had not received the amended agenda. They refused to budge even after the Speaker assured them he would hold an inquiry as to why the amended agenda did not reach them and take action against those responsible for the lapse.

Mr J.B.L. Khachi, a senior Congress member, urged the Chair not to be rigid as the issue concerned the Father of the Nation and allow members of both sides to speak. Mr Gulab Singh said the rules did not allow any discussion on a call attention motion and the members could give notice for a discussion on the issue under the relevant rule. Mr Kaul Singh suggested the rule be suspended by consensus to pave the way for discussion.

Intervening at this point, the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, said he respected the sentiments of members but the House was governed by rules and not sentiments. This enraged the Opposition members who were on their feet protesting loudly. After heated exchanges between the Treasury Benches and the Opposition, Mr Ram Lal Thakur, a former Chief Minister, changed the course of proceedings by suggesting that instead of debating over the point of order endlessly the House should pass a unanimous resolution to condemn the unsavoury act. He said the resolution should be moved by the Chief Minister.

Mr Dhumal also agreed to the proposal and on the suggestion of Mr Khachi the Speaker said the resolution should be brought in the House tomorrow.

Replying to the motion, Mr Dhumal said intimation regarding the desecration of the statue by miscreants was given to the police by Mr Kashmiri Lal, a municipal committee councillor, on August 10. He said the Superintendent of Police and other officers immediately reached the spot and found the statue had been broken and the head was missing.

He said after interrogating 65 persons and recovering some marble pieces, which appeared to be parts of the broken statue, from a car (registration No CHK 1384) the police had booked Prem Kaushal, owner of the vehicle, and his brother, Ashok Kumar under Section 295 of the IPC. The two had since secured interim bail from the competent court.

Earlier, moving the motion Mr Jai Ram expressed concern over the incident. He urged the government to give exemplary punishment to the culprits so that such acts were not repeated.

Replying to the call attention motion of Mr Kaul Singh regarding the two simultaneous fires in the Regional Transport Authority office and the Excise and Taxation office at Mandi, Mr Dhumal said circumstantial evidence indicated the involvement of some private bus operators who owed huge tax arrears to the government. He said the conduct of the chowkidar, Mr Kuldeep Singh, was also found to be suspicious and he had been arrested.

It was suspected the offices were set on fire to hamper the work of tax collection. Records had been taken into possession and a team of forensic experts had visited the site.