‘Ajay to Yogi Adityanath’, Bestseller Graphic Novel on CM Yogi Reaches Tamilnadu

GG News Bureau

Chennai, 29th June. Bestseller graphic novel – ‘Ajay to Yogi Adityanath’, travelled all the way from Uttar Pradesh to Tamilnadu – thanks to author Shantanu Gupta who was in Chennai to launch his book with more than 800+ children from various schools, at the Chinmaya Heritage Center along with S Gurumurthy, Shehzaad Poonawala and Swami Mitrananda.

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 Chennai on Tuesday. When our team contacted Shantanu, the 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 homemaker. 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 named 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 inspiration from.

Earlier this month, 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 was launched in multiple locations simultaneously with so many participants, that to children. The launch created an Asia book of records.

Author said 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 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 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, 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.

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 is wanted to meet young political leaders like Shehzaad 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.

Shehzaad Poonawala, national spokesman of BJP, who was in the city for this mega launch, addressed the students and told them about the character building that this book and the life of Yogi Adityanath teaches all of us. Shehzaad also talked about infrastructure and governance transformation that Yogi Adityanath has brought in Uttar Pradesh. Poonawala also brought the kid’s attention to how big an animal and nature lover 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 sibling 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 bringing all his books in various Indian languages. In the same spirit the cover of the upcoming Tamil translation is also launched during the event. Speed artist Amit Verma fascinated everyone by painting the portrait of Yogi Adityanath within a few minutes on a life size canvas. 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.

In the 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 95 years old K.Prasaran who led the Ramjanmbhoomi case for the Hindu side in the Supreme Court and took his blessings before the Tamilnadu launch.

Later in the day Shantanu signed copies of his books at Chennai’s famous bookstore Higginbothom. Book is already ranking among the bestsellers on Amazon.