Lalit Narayan Mishra (1923–1975), a freedom fighter and Union minister, was among Mithila’s most prominent national politicians. As Railway Minister he pushed the expansion of the rail network into the region, and he championed Maithil causes in Delhi. He died in a bomb blast at Samastipur in 1975 while inaugurating a new broad-gauge line.
His name endures across Mithila — most visibly in the Lalit Narayan Mithila University at Darbhanga and the institutions that bear his memory.