Anurag Thakur
Chief Whip of BJP, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, MP, India, Himachal Pradesh, Hamirpur, BJP
Biography:
Anurag Singh Thakur, a Cricketer, an Industrialist, and an Agriculturist by Profession turned Politician, is a Member of 17th Lok Sabha from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh. Anurag Thakur led a march from Kolkata to Lal Chowk in Srinagar under the banner of “Rashtriya Ekta Yatra” sponsored by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) to unfurl the National Flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on 26 January 2011.
Anurag Thakur is currently appointed as Chief Whip of BJP in Lok Sabha on 18-July-2018. He was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) from May 2016 to February 2017. He stepped down from his position of BCCI president after the Supreme Court ordered him to cease and desist works within BCCI. On 29-July-2016, he became the first serving BJP Member of Parliament to become a regular commissioned officer in the Territorial army.
Early life and education:
Thakur was born on 24-October-1974 at Hamirpur. He is the eldest son of Prem Kumar Dhumal and Sheela Devi. He studied B.A. Educated at Doaba College, Jalandhar, Punjab.
Cricket career:
Anurag Thakur played a Ranji Trophy match against Jammu & Kashmir in November 2000 when he was the president of HPCA. He has played one match in first-class cricket representing Himachal Pradesh and leading the team as captain in a match against Jammu and Kashmir in the 2000/2001 season. Jammu and Kashmir won by 4 wickets.
He picked himself for the match so as to fulfill the BCCI criterion (which requires state administrators to have at least one first-class match experience) for becoming a selector at the state level. After the match, he appointed himself as the chairman of selectors of the HPCA Ranji trophy cricket team.
He was involved in a legal struggle between the Himachal Pradesh State Government and the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association over the rights to the International Cricket Stadium at Dharamshala.
Cricket Administrator:
He was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) until the Supreme Court of India sacked Anurag Thakur as president on 02/01/2017. Early on in his administrative tenure, he gained fame for possibly being the first cricketer to have made his first-class debut after taking over as the President of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) in July 2000, at which time his father was the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. This debut was his one and only first-class cricket match. This experience in first-class cricket enabled his induction into the BCCI national junior selection committee, satisfying the condition that only first-class players could be national selectors.
Thakur continued to rise up the ranks in cricketing administration bodies to the position of Secretary for BCCI. On 22 May 2016, Thakur became the president of BCCI, and in January 2017, he was removed from the post by the Supreme Court from the post of BCCI president for not complying with its orders and making false statements under oath before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court gave its ruling on the Lodha Committee’s third status report, submitted on 14 November 2016, asking for the disqualification of office-bearers of the BCCI and all state associations, who became ineligible as per the Apex Court’s 18 July 2016 order.
Territorial Army:
In July 2016, Anurag Thakur became a part of the territorial army, becoming the first serving BJP Member of Parliament to become a regular commissioned officer in the Territorial Army
Personal life:
Thakur married Shefali Thakur, daughter of Gulab Singh Thakur, former Public Works Department minister in the government of Himachal Pradesh, on 27 November 2002.
Political Timeline:
- In 2008, He was Elected to 14th Lok Sabha in a bye-election. He defeated O.P.Rattan of Congress Party by 174,666 votes.
- In 2009, He was Re-elected to 15th Lok Sabha (2nd term). He defeated Narinder Thakur of the Congress Party by 72,732 votes. He was a Member of the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism, and Culture. Member of Consultative Committee, Ministry of Power
- In 2014, He was Re-elected to 16th Lok Sabha (3rd term) He defeated Rajinder Singh Rana of the Congress Party by 98,403 votes.
- He was a Member of the General Purposes Committee on 13 May 2015. Member of Joint Committee on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015.
- In 2019, He was Re-elected to the 17th Lok Sabha for a fourth term from Haripur Lok Sabha constituency where he defeated Ram Lal Thakur of INC by a margin of over 300000 votes. He was appointed to the MoS Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs.
- Thakur was appointed the president of the All India Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He was honored with the Sansad Ratna Award in 2019 for outstanding performance in the 16th Lok Sabha.
- Thakur is one of the youngest Parliamentarians in India today and received the Best Young Parliamentarian Award in 2011In December 2019, he was accused of being one of the political leaders who incited communal riots in Delhi using hate speech “traitor of the country” to which his audience “shoot the bastards” replied, which were repeated by him in January 2020 at a BJP rally.
- On being questioned about the statements by the media on March 1, 2020, he responded by saying, “You are lying, … the matter is sub-judice.” and “I think sometimes there is lack of information in the media too regarding the way some things are projected.”
Interesting Facts :
Thakur is one of the youngest Parliamentarians in India today and received the Best Young Parliamentarian Award in 2011
Vill. & P.O. Samirpur, Distt. Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh
Mobile:9868180974
Email: [email protected]
Recent Activities
Party Activities
Born in Hamirpur
Himachal Pradesh
Completed Graduation
B.A from Doaba College, Jalandhar (Affiliated to Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar) .
Profession
Cricketer, Industrialist, Agriculturist
President of HPCA
President
of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA)
Chief Minister
of Himachal Pradesh (his father)
Joined in the BJP
MP
14th Lok Sabha in a by-election, Hamirpur constituency
MP
15th Lok Sabha (2nd term), Hamirpur constituency
MP
16th Lok Sabha, Hamirpur constituency
Member
of General Purposes Committee
Member
of Joint Committee on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement (Second Amendment) Bill
President
of the Board of Control for Cricket in India
Territorial Army
becoming the first serving BJP Member of Parliament to become a regular commissioned Officer in the Territorial Army
Chairman
of selectors of HPCA Ranji trophy cricket team.
Chief Whip
of BJP in Lok Sabha
MP
17th Lok Sabha, Hamirpur constituency
Minister
of Finance and Corporate Affairs.