Would Anurag Thakur sweep off Leadership crisis of the district and take the centre stage?

Dinesh Kanwar, Hamirpur

Anurag Thakur Member of Parliament form Hamipur sworn in as Minister in the government of Prime Minister Narender Damodardas Modi today. The constituency was feeling more cheerful as it was for the first time in the history of the district that a MP from here was inducted in the union ministry.

With the elevation of Anurag Thakur to Ministerial Berth in 17th loksabha the people in the district may look forward for more than political expectations. The void that was apparent after his father Prem Kumar Dhumal was defeated in assembly elections need to be addressed. Looking decades back, the district had experienced dynamic leaderships of leaders including Thakur Jagdev Chand and Prem Kumar Dhumal. Apart from their political stature, both of them were flag bearers of Rajputism. Barring political affiliations people from the community had proud of their positions and they enjoyed enormous support from the community. Significantly, it was saying that only a leader from Rajput community could be successful Chief Minister of the state. Notably, this was only Shanta Kumar, who was non Rajput Chief Minister of the state twice in 1977 and 1989, but he could not complete the terms and had to face dissolution of his governments. It was opinion of the masses that the leader was more castiest as compared to his counter parts including Dr. YS Parmar, Ram Lal Thakur, Virbhadra Singh, Prem Kumar Dhumal and Jai Ram Thakur.

Being enterprising, pushing, charismatic and now experienced leader Anurag Thakur could take the responsibility of the people of the district in general and community specific. They were waiting for someone to cherish their moral which was otherwise demoralized and were disillusioned by fake and artificial projection of some hopping and popping leaders in the district. The task to garner support of masses had been accomplished by Anurag Thakur with land sliding victory and the party had honorably crowned him to take the strides.

The challenges were gigantic for Anurag Thakur as he had to give up his image of Autocracy and Aristocracy and to be man of masses. People were not against his foreign tours and mingling with high society but were wanting him to be with them too. in the past one year he had been successful in rebuilding his image as man from within still a regular connect was required.

He need to connect to people with the same love, affection and respect that people had given to him. People here had started preparations for his massive welcome at Hamirpur  and  were waiting to make him feel more loved. And all this would add to much higher expectations of public from Anurag Thakur. He would be expected to stand to his words and execute the projects that he had promised during his election campaign and even as MP for last 12 years.

 

Anurag capable to shoulder big responsibilities: Dhumal

Former Chief Minister and father of Member Parliament Prem Kumar Dhumal said that Anurag Thakur,  who was expected to sworn in as Minister in 17 the loksabha, was capable of shouldering larger responsibilities. He said that Anurag had proved his mental in past three tenures as MP and president of BCCI. Blessing success to his son for his future endeavours. He said that it was the love and affection of the people of the parliament who made Anurag victorious with a margin close to four lac votes. He said that the victory had donned more responsibility towards people and induction in ministerial berth would add responsibilities for the development and image building of the nation.

Significantly, Anurag Thakur was first elected to parliament in 2008 and continued to win the seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019. The election Anurag Thakur to 17th loksabha  was with a margin of over 399572 votes. He had  defeated his nearest rival Thakur Ram Lal who lost his fouth Loksabha election and could secure nearly 283120 against Anurag Thakur who secured 682692 votes.
Notably, Amit Shah President of BJP had announced during his campaign visit to Bilaspur to entrust bigger responsibility to Anurag Thakur.