New Delhi, October 23 (IANS). The public life of Anurag Singh Thakur, a young five-time MP, former Union minister and former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and current BJP MP, has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Anurag Singh Thakur was born on 24 October 1974. He entered the field with a strong political foundation. His father, Prem Kumar Dhumal, was the former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. This family legacy gave him a decisive launch pad for political succession. In May 2008, he won the Hamirpur Lok Sabha by-election and since then there was no looking back. Consecutive victories in 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024 also showed that his support base is not affected by any political fluctuations. Also in the 2024 general election, in his fifth victory, he won by a margin of over 1.82 lakh votes with a vote share of 57.97 percent. His activism within Parliament brought him to the attention of the central leadership. He was appointed Chief Whip during the 16th Lok Sabha and became the youngest person to hold the post. Along with political stability, Anurag has made himself an indispensable organizational face in the BJP. From 2011 to 2016, he served as the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP. During this period, he led major initiatives such as the ‘Rashtriya Ekta Yatra’ (Kolkata to Kashmir), which united the cadre at the grassroots level. But his greatest attribute was that he worked under three different BJP presidents (Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah). The most dramatic and high-stakes phase of Anurag Thakur’s versatile career was in sports administration. In the year 2000, he took over as the president of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), after which he is credited with the development of five stadiums, including the picturesque International Stadium in Dharamshala. During this time he also played one match for Himachal Pradesh in Ranji Trophy. In May 2016, he was unopposed as the BCCI President, the highest post of Indian sports administration. However, his nine-month tenure was surrounded by controversies over the implementation of the recommendations of the Supreme Court-appointed Justice RM Lodha Committee. In 2019, Anurag Thakur was inducted into the Union Cabinet. He previously served as the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, where he gained valuable executive experience managing the economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and corporate affairs under Nirmala Sitharaman. In July 2021, he was given the dual responsibility of Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs and Sport. At YAS, he focused on grassroots sports like ‘Khelo India’ and secured a significant 70 percent increase in the budget allocation for the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). As I&B Minister, he emphasized the implementation of the Digital Media Code of Conduct and promoted the AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Games, Comics) sector with the aim of making India a post-production hub for the media and entertainment industry. Moreover, being commissioned as a regular officer (lieutenant) in the Territorial Army in 2016 and promoted to the rank of captain in 2021 adds another strong layer of discipline and patriotism to his public life, which is perfectly in tune with the BJP’s ethos of nationalism. Despite a fifth consecutive victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, his exclusion from the third Modi cabinet (June 2024) has become a political mystery. Talking about the achievements of Anurag Thakur, he received the Best Young Member of Parliament Award in the year 2011. Received the title of Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2014. Anurag Thakur’s name is present in the Financial Times’ list of ’25 Indians to watch’. India Today magazine included him as one of ‘Narendra Modi’s Navratnas’. For his outstanding performance as a Member of Parliament, he was awarded the Sansad Ratna Award in 2019. In 2019, Anurag was honored with the Champions of Change Award for his exemplary contribution to social welfare. –IANS VKU/DKP
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