Anurag Singh Thakur (born 24 October 1974) is an Indian politician from the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

and a Member of Parliament in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

from Hamirpur,

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

. He was former Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the

Second Modi ministry The Second Modi ministry, also called Modi 2.0 was the Union Council of Ministers of India, Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2019 Indian general election, 2019 general election whi ...

. His father, Prem Kumar Dhumal was a former

Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh The chief minister of Himachal Pradesh is the head of government, chief executive of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. As per the Constitution of India, the Governors of states of India, governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' ...

. Previously, Thakur served as a Minister of State for

Finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

and Corporate Affairs. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in May 2008 in a by poll as a candidate of the

. Coming from a political family of

, he is a long serving, four time Member of Parliament, being a member of 14th, 15th, 16th, and

17th Lok Sabha The 17th Lok Sabha was formed by the members elected in the 2019 Indian general election. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India. Counting started offici ...

. Previously, he was the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

(BCCI) from May 2015 to February 2017, and had to leave that position after the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

order on BCCI governance. During his time as BCCI president he operated for some time from West Bengal. On 29 July 2016, he became the first serving Member of Parliament from the BJP to become a regular commissioned officer in the Territorial Army. 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. There was also controversy over his appointment as the president of the

(BCCI) and he had to leave that position following a Supreme Court order. In 2024, he was elected as MP from Hamirpur constituency in Himachal Pradesh for the 2024 General Elections.

Early life and education

Thakur was born on 24 October 1974 in

Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh Hamirpur is a town, Municipal council (India), municipal council and the headquarters of Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh, Hamirpur district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is covered by Shivalik Ranges. Hamirpur is located i ...

and his family belongs to the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

community. He is the elder son of Prem Kumar Dhumal and Sheela Devi. His father, Prem Kumar Dhumal was a former

. He has done his bachelors B.A. degree from Doaba College,

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. He did his schooling from Dayanand Model Sr. Sec. School, Dayanand Nagar,

Political career

In May 2008, Thakur succeeded his father when he was elected as Member of Parliament of India's 14th Lok Sabha from Hamirpur constituency. He was re-elected to the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009, 16th Loksabha in 2014, and 17th Loksabha in 2019. Later, in 2010 Thakur was appointed the national president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. On 19 January 2019 he became the first

MP to be awarded the Sansad Ratna Award, an award established in 2010 for recognizing contributions by parliamentarians.

Minister

In May 2019, Thakur became Minister of State for

and Corporate Affairs. On 7 July 2021, Thakur was appointed as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports and Minister of Information & Broadcasting. in the

as part of changes in the

Union Council of Ministers The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...

Goli Maro chants

In the 2020 Delhi elections, he was accused of being one of the leaders who incited communal tension in Delhi using the inflammatory slogan "traitors of the country", to which his audience replied "shoot the bastards", which were repeated by him in January 2020 at a BJP rally. On being questioned about the statements by the media on 1 March 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.” The

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

ordered that Thakur be removed from the BJP's list of star campaigners and then imposed a 72-hour campaigning ban on him. Following Thakur's speech, at least three incidents were reported in which Anti-CAA protestors were fired upon.

Cricket career

Professional player

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 HPCA Ranji trophy cricket team. 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.

Administrative head

Thakur served as the president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association for four straight terms since 2000. His tenure saw development of five stadium in

including the stadium in Dharamsala. He was the president of the Board of Control for Cricket of India order on 2 January 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.

Appointment as BCCI president

Thakur rose through the ranks in cricketing administration bodies to the position of secretary for BCCI. On 22 May 2016, Anurag Thakur became the president of BCCI, but his tenure was cut short when the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

ruled 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. The court dismissed Thakur on 2 January 2017 for defying its 2016 order to implement the Lodha Committee reforms. It also initiated contempt proceedings against Thakur for what it ''

prima facie ''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning "at first sight", or "based on first impression". The literal translation would be "at first face" or "at first appearance", from the feminine forms of ' ("first") and ' ("face"), both in the a ...

'' deemed as perjury about his correspondence with the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

. He submitted an affidavit of apology to the court which was rejected, following which he filed an unconditional and unequivocal apology. The court finally relented and dropped its contempt and perjury proceedings against him.

Personal life

Thakur decided at the age of 13 that he will not use his father's surname Dhumal. Thakur married Shefali Thakur, daughter of Gulab Singh Thakur, former Minister in the Government of

, on 27 November 2002.

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 TA Officer. He has been promoted to the rank of captain.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thakur, Anurag 1974 births Living people Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Himachal Pradesh India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 Lok Sabha members from Himachal Pradesh India MPs 2014–2019 Indian cricket administrators Himachal Pradesh cricketers Presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India People from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh India MPs 2019–2024 National Democratic Alliance candidates in the 2019 Indian general election Narendra Modi ministry India MPs 2024–2029