Guwahati: Former Mizoram Chief Minister and Mizo National Front (MNF) president Zoramthanga is set to receive his undergraduate degree from Gauhati University nearly six decades after completing his final examination.
The 82-year-old politician will be presented with his degree certificate at a special programme at the Phanidhar Dutta Seminar Hall on August 20. Gauhati University Vice-Chancellor Professor Nani Gopal Mahanta is scheduled to hand over the certificate at 2.30 pm.
Zoramthanga completed his undergraduate final examination in 1966 from Dhanamanjuri College in Manipur, which was then affiliated with Gauhati University. He studied English as his major subject and cleared the examination with a second-class result.
He could not collect his degree certificate at the time as he went underground after joining the MNF during the period of its armed movement under party founder Laldenga.
Zoramthanga joined the MNF in 1965 and entered underground life the following year. Over the next two decades, he remained an important member of the organisation and worked closely with Laldenga until the signing of the Mizoram Peace Accord in 1986.
During his underground years, Zoramthanga handled a range of responsibilities for the MNF, including managing camps in what was then East Pakistan, as well as areas of present-day Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan. He was also involved in establishing links with China and in efforts to advance peace talks with the Indian government.
The 1986 peace accord marked a major turning point in his political career. After Mizoram became a full-fledged state in 1987, Zoramthanga joined the coalition government formed by the MNF and Congress and served as Minister for Education and Finance.
Following Laldenga’s death in 1990, Zoramthanga took over as president of the MNF, a position he continues to hold. He subsequently served as Mizoram Chief Minister for three terms, from 1998 to 2008 and again from 2018 to 2023.
The degree ceremony will also feature a special lecture by Zoramthanga titled “From Guerrilla Fighter to a Peace Maker”. The event is being jointly organised by the Amia Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, Gauhati University’s Institute of North East India Studies and the Centre for South East Asian Studies.
Professor Nani Gopal Mahanta will inaugurate the lecture, while Subhash Chandra Das, chairman of the governing body of the Amia Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, will attend as the guest of honour.
The event comes soon after the publication of Zoramthanga’s autobiography, From Guerrilla Fighter to Chief Minister, released by Penguin Books in 2026.
During the lecture, Zoramthanga is expected to revisit key phases of his political life, including his years as an underground MNF leader, the peace process that brought the armed movement to an end and his subsequent journey in electoral politics.