Lucknow: President Ram Nath Kovind attended a special joint session of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday. Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Akhilesh Yadav were also present at the special session. President Kovind is on a four-day visit to Uttar Pradesh from June 3. Earlier on Sunday, the President addressed the 90th year celebrations of the Merchants Chamber of Uttar Pradesh at Kanpur. "The objective of any business organization should not only be to work for the benefit of its members but it should also become a participant in the all-around development of the society and country," he said during the event. President Kovind also participated in the centenary celebrations of the Gita Press at Gorakhpur on Saturday. Speaking at the event, he noted that the intention behind the establishment of Gita Press was to make available Gita in pure form with the right meaning and at a low price to the masses which were not easily available at that time.
The President also noted that of the 1850 current publications of Gita Press, about 760 publications are in Sanskrit and Hindi but the remaining publications are in other languages such as Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Kannada, Assamese, Malayalam, Nepali, Urdu, Punjabi and English. He said that this reflects the unity in diversity of our Indian culture. "The religious and spiritual base in Indian culture is the same from east to west and from north to south." Pointing to the Gita Press's plan for setting up its branches abroad, the President expressed hope that through this expansion, the whole world would benefit from the culture and philosophy of India. He urged Gita Press to enhance its relations with the Indian diaspora living abroad, as they are the messengers of Indian culture, who connect the world with our country. Earlier on Friday, the President visited his native village - Paraunkh in Kanpur Dehat. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also accompanied President during the visit to his native village.—ANI