From the archive record
A view inside the office of Prafulla Kumar Mahanta during a cabinet meeting in Assam. Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is a politician and government official, who was a longtime major force in the Assam People’s Council (Asom Gana Parishad; AGP), a regional political party in Assam state, northeastern India. He served two terms (1985–90 and 1996–2001) as chief minister (head of government) of that state. Mahanta was born in a village near Nagaon, in central Assam. He earned a bachelor’s degree in law from Gauhati University in Guwahati. During his time as a student, he became active in politics, and in 1979 he was named the president of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), an influential organization in the state. That year the AASU embarked on a popular agitation against illegal immigrants from B