Ahmedabad: This Rath Yatra was all about Gau Mata — right from the sartorial choice for the deities to the tableaux in the procession.Jagannathji Temple mahant Dilipdasji said that this year's attire for the Holy Trinity was themed on 'Gopalak' or 'Yaduvanshi', related to cattle herders. "For the first time in the 140-year history, the deities wore clothes inspired by the community of cow herders," he said. "Cow protection was valued when Lord Jagannath was born and it remains important today. Stringent laws alone will not serve the purpose; we will also seek blessings of the deities to protect cows."Over the past year, the state has recorded incidents such as the flogging of dalit youths in Una and the lynching of a Muslim youth by self-styled gau rakshaks. Under the new law, a person can be sentenced to life imprisonment for killing cow progeny.While a tableau hailed the state government for introducing the stringent laws, another eulogized the cow as the only mother that nourishes its children throughout her lifetime. Yet another tableau showed members of both communities revering a cow and displaying the message: 'If cow remains safe, only then will humanity be safe.' A banner at the Kalupur railway station put up by the state government's Gauseva and Gauchar Seva Vikas Board told citizens that it was a sin on humanity that cows were eating plastic.

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