Jaipur police turn art critics, force removal of plastic cow installation - say it is not art

After police made Jaipur art summit organisers dismantle the plastic cow installation, protesters worshiped it

November 22, 2015, NewsCrunch

Jaipur police forced organizers of Third Jaipur Art Summit at Jawahar Kala Kendra to dismantle a plastic cow installation saying it hurt sentiments of people.

The cow made of  styrofoam had been floated at a  height of 50 feet in air with the help of a hot air balloon.

Two artists, Anish Ahluwalia and Chitan Upadhyay, who protested police action, were also reportedly detained at Bajaj Nagar station. However, police said the artists had been only called to the station to explain that the art object was sending a wrong message.

Media reports also quoted Station House Officer (SHO) of Bajaj Nagar police station Mahendra Gupta saying the installation was not art and was sending a wrong message.
The art work titled The Bovine Divine was made by noted artist Siddharth Kararwal to caution people against carelessly discarding plastic as they were proving to be detrimental to the animals especially cows, which ate them.

After the installation was dismantled and kept in a room, members of a right wing group gathered at the venue to protest. They pulled out the cow, garlanded and worshiped it, while chanting “Gai humari mata hai” and “Gau mata zindabad”.

Suraj Soni, the Jaipur coordinator of People for Animals, who objected to the art work told The Hindu that the plastic cow had been hung by its neck.

"I found it disrespectful because it looked like the cow had been hanged to death. Also, there was no slogan accompanying the art work and one could easily misconstrue the installation as a portrayal of cruelty on animals.”

The Bovine Divine - the controversial plastic cow installation being brough down