NEW DELHI: Organisers of an art fair in western India say right-wing Hindu activists have taken down an exhibit of a Styrofoam cow that was suspended in midair using a balloon.

R.B. Gauttam, an organiser of the Jaipur Art Summit, said Sunday that the exhibit was meant to highlight how cows suffer after ingesting plastic waste at India's many garbage dumps.

The activists deemed the installation offensive.

Cows are revered by India's majority Hindus, and the slaughter of the animals is banned in several Indian states.

In recent months, violence based on rumors of beef-eating by India's Muslim minority has spiked. A man was beaten to death by a mob over rumors his family had eaten beef, and two others were killed for allegedly transporting cows for slaughter.