The Rajasthan Police on Saturday brought down a floating cow, an art installation at the Jaipur Art Summit at Jawahar Kala Kendra, and detained two people for protesting against their move to uninstall it.

The cow made of Styrofoam and suspended by a hot-air balloon was uninstalled by the police and later kept in a store by the organisers.

The police came to uninstall the cow at around 12 pm when the Summit was about to start. "They said many people had approached them saying artists had portrayed 'our cow' inappropriately," organiser Vidya Sagar said. 

The police then detained Anish Ahluwalia and Chitan Upadhyay, who protested against their (police's) move, for two hours, The Indian Express reported.

"They asked us to lower the installation to the ground and even though we agreed, took Chintan and me to the police station. They shoved us into their vehicle," Ahluwalia said.

The artists protested that the art installation by Siddharth Kararwal was meant to give out a message: "how cows consume plastic and die due to its consumption".

"The message of the installation was harmony between humans and environment. Cows often scavenge for food and end up consuming plastic from the garbage, eventually dying from it. We had read about 10-15 kg of plastic being found in the stomach of deceased cows," Ahluwalia said.

However, the police said that some people had approached the organisers saying that the art installation (cow) was portrayed inappropriately by the artist. "They said many people had approached them saying artists had portrayed 'our cow' inappropriately," Organiser Vidya Sagar said.

Bajaj Nagar Police Station SHO Mahendra Gupta said, "The way the cow was hanging in the air...it was only sending a negative message."

"The message through the installation was unclear. So when the police control room started getting calls, we reached the site and later brought the artists to the police station for questioning. No FIR has been registered," Gupta told The Sunday Express.

This did not stop here. After the police uninstalled the cow, around 12 protesters arrived at the Jawahar Kala Kendra, brought the Styrofoam cow out of the store, worshipped it and then destroyed it. 

"We had removed the installation and kept it in a store. Yet some members of an unidentified organisation arrived at Jawahar Kala Kendra, pulled it out of the room, and worshipped the cow and garlanded it," Sagar said.

They also chanted "Gai humari mata hai" and "Gau mata zindabad... They were about a dozen," he added.

More than 260 works will be put out on display at the five-day Summit, in which aritsts from 12 countries, including Korea, the US, Iran and Yemen, have participated.

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