Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the Gorakhpur Book Festival 2025 at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University (DDU) on Saturday, urging children to spend more time with books rather than smartphones. The nine-day festival, jointly organised by the National Book Trust (NBT) and DDU, will run until November 9, featuring over 200 stalls offering a wide range of titles across genres.
Addressing the audience, CM Yogi described good books as “a person’s truest guides and companions,” emphasising their role in shaping minds and character. Drawing from India’s ancient traditions of Shravan and the guru-shishya parampara, he noted that sages preserved timeless knowledge through written texts for future generations.
Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words, “When citizens read, the country leads,” the Chief Minister highlighted Gorakhpur’s rich literary heritage. He praised Gita Press for spreading the message of Sanatan Dharma globally for more than a century and paid tributes to literary icons Firaq Gorakhpuri, Munshi Premchand, Prof. Vishwanath Tripathi, and the late Ram Daras Mishra.
Calling books “a source of endless inspiration,” Yogi urged educational institutions across the city to participate in the festival, which will host seminars, discussions, book launches, and cultural events over the next nine days.
Highlighting his government’s efforts to build a reading culture, CM Yogi said that libraries are being set up in every gram panchayat under the double-engine government’s initiative. “Libraries have already been established in 57,600 gram panchayats along with village secretariats. Of the 1.56 lakh primary schools in Uttar Pradesh, more than 1.36 lakh now have libraries and digital reading spaces,” he said.
Appealing directly to the youth, he warned against excessive dependence on smartphones, which he said was leading to depression and restlessness. “Invest your time in good books, not smartphones. Everyone should reduce spending on gadgets and invest in knowledge,” he advised.
He also recommended Prime Minister Modi’s book Exam Warriors as essential reading for students. “Good books not only help in exams but also guide us through life’s challenges,” he added, noting that works on religion, technology, the environment, and artificial intelligence provide both wisdom and motivation.
Marking the occasion of Devuthani Ekadashi, CM Yogi called the festival’s inauguration on the auspicious day “a positive sign for the entire state.”
The Chief Minister also interacted with schoolchildren, distributed books, and honoured Anganwadi workers, Nisha, Chinta, Premlata, Pushpa, and Bindravati, with gifts. Winners of various competitions organised by NBT and DDU, including Srija Sharan, Abhay Verma, Rashmika Dubey, Aadesh Kunwar Singh, Divya Vishwakarma, Shivam Kumar Gupta, Toshika Chauhan, Shivangi Pandey, Nilay Kumar, Abhishek Singh, Dewanand Gupta, and Ayush Kishore, were felicitated on stage.
Among those present were MP Ravi Kishan Shukla, MLAs Bipin Singh, Pradeep Shukla, Shri Ram Chauhan, Shravan Nishad, and Vimlesh Paswan, Women’s Commission Vice-Chairperson Charu Chaudhary, DDU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Poonam Tandon, Awanish Awasthi, NBT Chairman Milind Sudhakar Marathe, Yuvraj Malik, and Acharya Pawan Tripathi, along with several dignitaries and book lovers.