Anurag Thakur
Anurag Singh Thakur (born 24 October 1974) is a member of the Lower House of Parliament in India from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, and also serves as a Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs. He is the son of Prem Kumar Dhumal, the former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in May 2008 in a by poll as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a four time MP, being a member of 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th Lok Sabha. He was awarded the Sansad Ratna Award in 2019.

He was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from May 2015 to February 2017 He was sacked 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.

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, 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.
In May 2019, Thakur became Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs.

Controversies
Anurag Thakur stirred a row for allegedly leading the crowd into chanting controversial slogans during a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally on January 27, 2020, in New Delhi. A video of Anurag Thakur purportedly leading the crowd into chanting “shoot the traitors” during the rally was widely circulated for which he was criticized forcefully by certain commentators online. In the video of the rally, Thakur while addressing the rally, seems to be leading a cheer by saying ‘desh k gaddaron ko’ after which the crowd adds a rejoinder ‘goli maro salon ko (shoot the traitors)’ –a slogan often used against anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protesters. 

Initially, the Election Commission of India(ECI) served notice which referred the Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, dealing with attempts to promote enmity or hatred between different classes of citizens on the grounds of religion, race, caste, community or language.
The Election Commission ordered the BJP to remove him for its list of star campaigners for the 2020 Delhi assembly election. In a press statement, the ECI said that BJP must remove him from its star campaigner list with immediate effect. Opposition parties and Jamia Teacher's Association demanded his arrest after a real incident of shooting took place against students of Jamia Milia Islamia who were protesting against CAA.

Cricket career

Cricket Player
Anurag Thakur played a Ranji Trophy match against Jammu & Kashmir in November 2000 when he was the president of HPCA and He has assisted in the creation of the International Level Cricket Stadium at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. 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.

Cricket administrator 
He was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) until 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 state cricket association in July 2000. 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 has continued to rise up the ranks 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. The court gave its ruling on the Lodha Committee’s third status report, submitted on November 14, 2016, asking for the disqualification of office-bearers of the BCCI and all state associations, who became ineligible as per the apex court’s July 18, 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.

Awards & Honors 
Anurag Thakur was awarded Champions of Change Award in 2019, for his work in social welfare. The award was conferred by Shri Pranab Mukherjee at Vigyan Bhavan New Delhi on 20th January 2020.

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.

Thakur is also the Founder of the Honour Our Women (HOW) Foundation, an initiative that works for creating social awareness about women's issues, safety and empowerment through seminars, street plays and involvement of various civil society stakeholders, celebrities, journalists and parliamentarians.