Role of gauge symmetry in the proton spin problem has intricate and unresolved aspects. One of the interesting approaches to gain physical insights is to explore the Landau problem in this context. A detailed study using the group theoretic method to understand the Landau problem establishes the significance of the gauge transformation intimately related with the space translation symmetry. An important implication of this result is that the E(2)-like Wigner’s little group for massless particles could throw more light on the question of gauge symmetry in QED and QCD. A generalized Landau-Zeeman Hamiltonian is proposed in which Dirac two-oscillator system and the symmetry of the group SO(3,2) become important. It is argued that nontrivial topology of pure gauge field holds promise to resolve the unsettled questions.