Author Shantanu Gupta launches his graphic novel 'Ajay to Yogi Adityanath' on the UP CM in Tamil Nadu

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], June 27 : Author Shantanu Gupta launched his graphic novel titled 'Ajay to Yogi Adityanath' on the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister for young readers in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

Author Gupta launched the graphic novel in Chennai in an event attended by more than 800 children from various schools at the Chinmaya Heritage Center along with editor S Gurumurthy, BJP national spokesman Shehzad Poonawala and Swami Mitrananda.

Speaking about the graphic novel written especially for kids, Gupta said that 'Ajay to Yogi Adityanath', is a journey of a young boy Ajay Singh Bisht born in the hinterlands of Uttarakhand with six other siblings.

"His father Anand Singh Bisht was a junior forest officer and his mother Savitri Devi was a homemaker. From childhood, Ajay was fond of taking care of the family cows, listening to stories of freedom fighters and participating in school debates. They all lived in a one-and-a-half-room house in a remote village name Panchur, in today's Uttarakhand. From here Ajay rose to become Mahant of Gorakhnath Mutt, the youngest member of the parliament and the Chief Minister of the most populated state of India, Uttar Pradesh", Gupta said.

He added that 'Ajay to Yogi Adityanath' is a story of sheer grit, determination and hard work for every student to follow and take inspiration from.

Earlier this month, this graphic novel was launched in 51+ schools of Uttar Pradesh on June 5 on the occasion of CM Yogi's 51st birthday.

The author also attended the book launch at Seth Anandram Jaipuria School in Lucknow with hundreds of children along with the education minister Sandeep Singh and other guests.

Simultaneously more than 5100 children from 51+ schools across various districts of Uttar Pradesh attended this record launch. This was the first time that a book is launched in multiple locations simultaneously with so many participants which included children. The launch created an Asia book of records.

Author Gupta said that he was able to narrate the story through the inspirational accounts that he heard and documented during his conversations with various individuals who were a part of Yogi Adityanath's growing-up years.

"They were his father late Anand Singh Bisht, his mother Savitri Devi, his friends from the Panchur village, classmates and teachers from his colleges in Kotdwar and Rishikesh and through various fellow saints and leaders who crossed paths with him", the author said.

For the literature buffs, Shantanu narrated the detailed literary and artistic journey that the graphic novel has gone through in the last one year.

First, the author storyboarded all the pages based on his primary research. Along with the dialogues, he suggested the possible layout to the artists. From there on the team of artists and designers Nitesh Kushwaha, Akash Jaiswal and Pallavi Saxena took on.

"First the artists did the rough thumbnailing for estimation of the page layout, then they did the meticulous pencil artwork - the most important part of the journey, then they inked it, did panelling, added dialogues and then the colours. Detailed review and rigorous feedback loops were run through for each panel, each page and every dialogue between the team members. To make the book more engaging, the book also has many puzzles and games on Yogi Adityanath at the end. The QR code in the book will take the readers to a website, where young readers can play 100+ games and puzzles to know more about Yogi Adityanath and Uttar Pradesh", author Gupta said.

Speaking at the Chennai launch, Tuglak's editor S Gurumurthy said that this is the first time he is making an exception to come for the book launch of a living politician.

He added that he made this exception because of four reasons - firstly because it's a book on Yogi Adityanath who changed the negative perception of Uttar Pradesh into a transformational growth story. Second, he wanted to meet young political leaders like Shehzad Poonawala, Thirdly - it's very difficult to say NO to the genuine invitation of Shantanu, whose idea of home-schooling his children really impressed him and lastly because the event is happening in Chinmaya mission under the blessing of Swami Mitrananda, editor Gurumurthy said.

Shehzad Poonawala addressed the students at the mega launch and told them about the character building that this book and the life of Yogi Adityanath teach all of us.

Shehzad also talked about the infrastructure and governance transformation that the CM has brought to Uttar Pradesh. He also brought kids' attention to how big an animal and nature lover CM Yogi Adityanath is.

Swami Mitrananda of Chinmaya Mission called upon the students and pointed them towards page number 5 of the graphic novel, which shows how Yogi Adityanath was brought up with seven siblings in a one-room house and by his hard work, divinity and dedication he rose to become the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Shantanu conducted a quiz on Yogi Adityanath and Uttar Pradesh and connected directly with hundreds of children.

Shantanu is known for releasing all his books in various Indian languages also. In the same spirit, the cover of the book's soon-to-be-releasing Tamil translation is also launched during the event.

Speed artist Amit Verma fascinated everyone by painting the portrait of Yogi Adityanath in a few minutes on a life-size canvas at the launch.

Social media enthusiasts tweeted extensively about the event and Hashtag #YogiBookRocksChennai trended throughout India on Twitter. In this massive book launch program children from various schools joined the event

Author Shantanu Gupta has written two bestselling titles on Yogi Adityanath- 'The Monk Who Became Chief Minister' and 'The Monk Who Transformed Uttar Pradesh'.

In the evening before the grand launch in Tamil Nadu, author Shantanu met 95 years old, K Prasaran who led the Ram Janmbhoomi case from the 'Hindu side' in the Supreme Court and sought his blessings.

Later in the day, Shantanu signed copies of his books at Chennai's famous bookstore Higginbotham. The book is already ranking among the bestsellers on Amazon, said sources.

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