A 20-foot statue of Jesus that stood next to Gokunte village's St Francis Xavier's Church in Karnataka state for 18 years was demolished after local officials claimed it was built on land reserved for animal pasture. ‘We have prayed at the statue since 2004’, said a villager. ‘Despite asking the authorities to safely remove the statue and hand it over to us, it was destroyed and removed in a tractor.’ Father Lobo of the Catholic bishops' council said, ‘The video of the demolition was widely circulated, and Christians are alarmed and pained at such repeated acts by the pro-Hindu government machinery’. The bishops say dishonouring the Jesus statue is an example of growing attacks against Karnataka state Christians by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party. Open Doors warned, ‘The persecution of Christians in India is intensifying as Hindu extremists aim to cleanse the country of their presence and influence’.