IAF Hosts Shantanu Gupta’s Book Release- ‘The Monk Who
Transformed Uttar Pradesh’
By Neetu Chauhan
Despite the complications of cold weather and Covid protocols, the evening
event in honor of Shantanu Gupta, the writer of the book, was a sold-out
event, attended by more than 250 members of Indian American community at
GokulDham Haveli, Atlanta. Well-organized and engaging, the event was led by
Dhiru Shah and Rajeev Menon and a team of the India Awareness Foundation,
Amitabh Sharma, Shobha Swamy, Himanshu Kanwal, and Neetu Chauhan.

The event began with sumptuous dinner provided by GokulDham, during which the
audience enjoyed a Meet and Greet hour to socialize with other attendees and
secure autographs from Shantanu Gupta, a world-renowned author and TEDx speaker.

The audience were treated to an artistic showcase, with a vintage repertoire of
songs starting with Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata, a self-composed song by Ms.
Jyothsna Nanu. Students from Deeksha School of Performing Arts, Ms. Sanjana
Menon, Ms. Manasa Prasad, Ms. Maya Narayanan and Ms. Ashwika Anil Nair,
presented a beautiful dance based on one of the famous kritis of Saint Thygaraja
“Samaja Vara Gamana”, choreographed by their teacher Ms. Anupa Thakurta.

The attendees were warmly welcomed by emcee Neetu Singh Chauhan with an
introduction of Shantanu Gupta. Dhiru Shah, President and one of the founding
members of India Awareness Foundation (IAF) welcomed him and gave a brief
introduction of IAF. It was started in 1996 and was later registered with IRS as
a non-profit organization with the main objective of creating awareness amongst
Indian Americans and mainstream American society about the glory of India’s
ancient civilization, its contributions to the world civilization in every field
of human endeavor and Dharmic traditions. IAF has organized several lectures and
seminars by prominent speakers and writers including Dr. Subramanian Swamy since
its inception. Amongst a few noteworthy actions included petition to the Indian
government in the year 2000 for removal of the article 370 of the Indian
constitution, Appeal to CA Education Board in 2004 to change the curriculum of
Indian history in the six grade schoolbooks and a petition to the AAR (American
Academy of Religion) to investigate the prevalence of Hindu phobia in the
American academia.

The renowned author had kickstarted a multi-city tour of the US with some of
his bestseller books based on UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Gupta’s
tour of 3 weeks included events in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Washington
D.C., Raleigh, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and San Diego
and San Francisco. Each of these events were organized by the Indian
American diaspora strongly connected with their motherland. The guest was
honored by many eminent figures in Atlanta, including Dhiru Shah, Rajeev
Menon, Ashok Patel, Pravin Patel, Himanshu Karnwal, Bob Erramilli, Amitabh
Sharma, and Tejas Patwa.
Earlier in the morning the author was given a tour of CNN & Olympic Park and
was honored by Prof. Jagdish Sheth, author of numerous articles and books, a
recipient of Padma Bhushan award and is well-known for his scholarly
contributions in consumer behavior, relationship marketing, competitive
strategy, and geopolitical analysis.

The evening session began with a Q & A session moderated by Emcee Neetu
Chauhan where Shantanu Gupta detailed the themes of his two bestseller
books—The Monk Who Transformed Uttar Pradesh and The Monk Who Became Chief
Minister. According to Shantanu, with the election approaching in the coming
weeks, many are curious as to how a monk could transform the situation of a
state once titled "bimaru rajya". He explained that the incumbent Chief
Minister of Uttar Pradesh has renovated the state in terms of development,
bringing crime under control and priming Uttar Pradesh for industrial
investment. He elaborated on how Yogi Adityanath has recast U.P. into a
peaceful state, where people can move freely, and women feel safe. Checking
other boxes like handling the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing health and
transport infrastructure across districts and regions like Purvanchal and
Bundelkhand, and supporting the livelihoods of common people and workers
inclined to migrate, Shantanu’s evaluation and reasoning resounded strongly
with the audience and their values.
Before concluding his talk, Shantanu played an online quiz about the CM Yogi
Adityanath. All in all, it was a thought provoking, enjoyable, enthusiastic,
and much-appreciated program, providing insight into the progress and
development of UP to the Indian diaspora in Atlanta.
The Vote of thanks was given by the organizer Rajeev Menon who thanked all
the volunteers who worked tirelessly in a short span of time to organize the
event, all the artists who performed, all media personnel who covered the
event and all the attendees who showed up despite the bad weather and bought
all the books.
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Feb-07-2022