Arise Bharat

Bestseller graphic novel – ‘Ajay to Yogi Adityanath’, travelled all the way from Uttar Pradesh to Telangana – thanks to author Shantanu Gupta who was in Hyderabad to launch his book with more than 600 children from various schools, at the Vishvesvaraya Bhavan, at Institution of Engineers, in Hyderabad along with ace shutler Saina Nehwal, Rajya Sabha MP Zafar Islam, BJP’s National Spokesperson Shazia Ilmi and priest from Chilkur Balaji CS Rangarajan.

Noted Author, Shantanu Gupta, who has written two bestseller titles on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, launched his new graphic novel – “Ajay to Yogi Adityanath” for the young readers in Hyderabad on Tuesday. When our team contacted Shantanu, author shared the finer details about his new graphic novel. Gupta told 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 mother Savitri Devi was a home maker. From childhood, Ajay was fond of taking care of the family cows, listening to stories of freedom fighters and participating in the 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,  youngest member of the parliament of India and the Chief Minister of the most populated state of India, Uttar Pradesh. Author added that ‘Ajay to Yogi Adityanath’ is a story of sheer grit, determination and hard work for every student to follow and take inspirational from.

Earlier in June, this graphic novel was launched in 51+ schools of Uttar Pradesh on 5^th of June, the 51^st birthday of Yogi Adityanath. Author himself was present at ‘Seth Anandram Jaipuria School’ in Lucknow with hundreds of children along with the education minister Sandeep Singh and other guests. And simultaneously more than 5100 children launched the book in 51+ schools across various districts of Uttar Pradesh in this record launch. This was the first time that a book is launched in multiple locations simultaneously with so many participants, that to children. The launch created an Asia book of records.

Author told that he is able to narrate this story through the inspirational accounts, 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.

For the literature buffs, Shantanu narrated the detailed literary and artistic journey that the graphic novel has gone through in 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 art work – 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, 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.

Speaking at the Hyderabad launch, ace shutler Saina Nehwal who has joined BJP in 2020 said Yogi Adityanath is inspiration for the whole country and journey from small village boy Ajay to a powerful efficient chief minister, Yogi Adityanath is inspires her personally. She narrated her own journey of becoming a India’s first world number one women badminton player and how her family supported her fully for the same. Children also got to know about her UP roots – her father is from Ghaziabad and mother from Meerut.

Through a video message Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, Zafar Islam said Yogi Adityanath’s life is inspiration for everyone included him as he was also born in a small town in Jharkhand.

BJP’s National Spokesperson Shazia Ilmi made a few children to come on stage and made them read Rama’s different qualities from the book which inspired Yogi Adityanath Ji, when he met his guru Mahant Awaidyanath Ji. She inspired a jam pack hall to work hard to achieve their goals

Head priest of Chilkur Balaji, CS Rangarajan Ji congratulated Shantanu for taking the amazing and inspiring life of Yogi Adityanath to children. He motivated children with the anecdotes of the great life of Lord Hanuman. He gifted a Sita Ram statue from Bhadrachalam.

Shantanu conducted quiz on Yogi Adityanath and Uttar Pradesh and connected directly with hundreds of children. Shantanu is known for brining all his books in various Indian languages. Speed artist Amit Verma fascinated every one by painting the portrait of Yogi Adityanath with in few minutes on a life size canvas. Social media enthusiasts tweeted extensively about the event and Hashtag #YogiBookRocksHyderabad trended throughout India on twitter. In this massive book launch program children from various schools joined the event. In past Shantanu Gupta has written two bestselling titles on Yogi Adityanath– The Monk Who Became Chief Minister and The Monk Who Transformed Uttar Pradesh. And now he has written an inspirational graphic novel on UP Chief Minister specially for children-  ‘Ajay to Yogi Adityanath’. In the evening before the grand launch, author Shantanu met Bhrahma Sri Sadhguru Pasarlapati Srinivasa Bangarayya Sharma and took his blessings before the Telangana & Andhra Pradesh launch. Book is already ranking among the bestsellers on Amazon.