Darjeeling, Feb. 11: After almost three years, an idol of Saraswati, instead of a shila (stone), was worshipped here today.

Residents of about 65 localities organised Saraswati Puja at Chowrasta under the banner of Chowrastha Toongsoong Puja Committee in defiance of the shila, a brainchild of GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh.

“The old Darjeeling culture is being revived,” said Shadey Pradhan, a puja organiser. The last time the goddess was worshipped in Chowrastha in the idol form was in 2004.

Although the organisers claimed that the event was “apolitical”, it was clear from the way the idol replaced the stone that the puja was in defiance of Ghisingh and his interference in the religious life of the hill people. “We had not been able to organise the puja (for the past few years) because of Ghisingh,” added Pradhan.

Ever since the GNLF chief raised the demand for Sixth Schedule status, he has been maintaining that the hills should worship shilas instead of idols, be it during the Durga Puja or the Viswakarma. The leader’s argument was that that the people of the hills followed “a tribal way of life”, and were banbo (nature) worshippers.

The hill people, however, had not been able to openly defy Ghisingh’s diktat until today, which is four months after the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha was formed. Earlier the residents had not gone against the GNLF leader’s order, but worshipped posters of Saraswati along with the shila.

This time, the organisers said, the villagers donated whatever was possible for the Chowrastha show. “We bought the idol from Siliguri for Rs 3,500 and volunteers worked day and night to arrange the decorations. The expenditure is expected to cross more than Rs 50,000,” added Pradhan.

The organisers claimed that that they had obtained permission from the GNLF-controlled Darjeeling Municipality to hold the puja. The DGHC information and cultural department, along with the civic body, used to organise a shila puja at the same venue in the past. However, with Ghisingh out of town no such event took place this year.

This year, the GNLF has not issued any statement on shila puja.