Hiteswar Saikia was an Indian politician who served as the 10th chief minister of Assam for two terms, firstly from 28 February 1983 to 23 December 1985 and then from 30 June 1991 to 22 April 1996. He was the 1st Governor of Mizoram from 1987 to 1989 and the 6th Lieutenant Governor of Mizoram from 1986 to 1987. He was the education minister in the Government of Assam from and from 1980 to 1981 and again from 1982 to 1982. He was the Minister of State for Home, Education And public relations from 1972 to 1974 and the minister of Home from 1974 to 1978. He represented the Nazira constituency in the Assam Legislative Assembly from 1972 to 1988 and again from 1991 to 1996.

The Ahom or Tai-Ahom is an ethnic group from the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The members of this group are admixed descendants of the Tai people who reached the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in 1228 and the local indigenous people who joined them over the course of history. Sukaphaa, the leader of the Tai group and his 9,000 followers established the Ahom kingdom, which controlled much of the Brahmaputra Valley in modern Assam until 1826.