Ajay to Yogi Adityanath: New graphic novel on Uttar Pradesh CM’s life creates Asia Book of Records

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. The 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 5,000 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.

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.

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 Lucknow record the launch, PWD minister in Yogi’s cabinet Jitin Prasada motivated children to dream big and constantly look up to successful people like CM Yogi Adityanath. He said he elated to be a part of a book launch which is ranking number#1 in the children’s new releases category on Amazon among lakhs of listed books there. He emphasized on innovation and value of new and innovative ideas, like the innovative graphic novel author Shantanu has created on CM Yogi. Prasada further called upon students of Seth Anandram Jaipuria to learn from the life of Honourable Chief Minister and be the leaders of tomorrow. He invoked page 5 of the book – Ajay to Yogi Adityanath, which depicts Chief Minister living in a one room house, with six siblings in poverty and later rose to become an iconic leader that he is today.

MLA from Lucknow and from Joint director of ED, Rajeshwar Singh said that he is personally highly impressed with the personality of CM Yogi Adityanath, who has transformed Uttar Pradesh and cracked down on crime in the state. Talking on Shantanu Gupta’s graphic novel, he said this is one of kind of book, where life and struggles of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s journey from a boy being born in a small village till taking the oath as CM of Uttar Pradesh.

Chief Minister’ media advisor Mrityunjay Singh, told that we are all fortunate to be in UP today under the able leadership of Yogi Adityanath. When we go out of UP, today we take to be in Upite, which was not the case earlier. This graphic novel has reached in the hands of the kids, who are the future of the country. He congratulate author Shantanu Gupta and his entire team.

Sqd Leader Toolika Rani spoke about her experience and challenges from the air force, and connected that to the challenges faced by Yogi ji in his growing up years. She added that the way army is protecting the borders, Yogi Aditynath ji is protecting the people of Uttar Pradesh. She congratulated Shantanu and his team to make the life of such a leader available to children in the form of a engaging graphic novel.

After the end of the grand launch in 51+ schools of Uttar Pradesh simultaneously with more than 5000 children on the 51^st birthday of Yogi Adityanath, adjudicator of the ‘Asia Book of Records’ Dr Sameer Das , gave the provisional certificate of Asia Book of Records for this massive launch. The certificate read:

“MAXIMUM SCHOOL STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN A BOOK LAUNCH – Shantanu Gupta (born on February 7, 1979) of Noida, Uttar Pradesh set the record for maximum school students participating in a book launch. Students from different schools across Uttar Pradesh simultaneously launched a book authored by Shantanu Gupta titled ‘Ajay to Yogi Adityanath’ to commemorate the 51st birthday of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as confirmed on June 5, 2023.”

Schools from all the four regions of Uttar Pradesh – West UP, Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand and Awadh regions joined this record launch. Leading schools of Uttar Pradesh like Jaipuria Schools from Lucknow and Khushinagar, Delhi Public School and Vidya Bal Bhavan from Ghaziabad, Sunbeam School and St Xavier’s High School from Varanasi, St. Joseph School from Prayagraj, JP International School, Sarvottam and Manav Rachna from Gautam Budha Nagar, RNS World School Jhansi, KL International and IIMT Schools from Meerut, Alpine Public School from Bulandshahar, Mount Litera ZEE School from Muzaffarnagar, Abhyuday Public School from Gorakhpur, Guru Kripa School from Bahraich, TINY TOTS from Ayodhya to name a few from the long list of schools, which celebrated their beloved Chief Minister’s birthday across different cities of Uttar Pradesh.

Prashant Singh of Koshala literature festival motivated children make reading and writing a regular habit for a successful career in future. He invited all the children for the upcoming edition of Koshala literature festival (KLF) in December 2023.

COO of MotoGP Bharat, Pushkar Nath Srivastava announced at the venue that they will distribute this graphic novel among children in 5 cities – Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Noida, Lucknow and Prayag. He also announced collaboration with Shantanu’s team for a graphic novel on responsible driving for the Moto GP Bharat’s outreach.

Speed artist Amit Verma fascinated every one by painting the cover of the book with in few minutes in a life size canvas. Ashutosh, the art teacher of Jaipuria school gifted a wonderfully painted portrait of Yogi Adityanath to the guests.

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’. Book is already ranking among the bestsellers on Amazon.

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