The Pakistan Era
Dhirendranath continued to represent his constituency as a member of the renamed Pakistan National Congress as a Hindu member (seats were allocated by a quota according to religion). On February 23, 1948 in the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in Karachi, Dhirendranath made a speech calling for Bengali to be made one of the official languages of Pakistan, in what was to become the action he will be most remembered for by his compatriots.
He continued to be a thorn in Pakistan establishment; in 1954, he moved an adjournment motion against the declaration of Governor's Rule in East Pakistan, and was seen as the de facto face of protest and democracy.
He served as the Minister of Health and Social Welfare (East Pakistan) in Ataur Rahman Khan's cabinet (1956–58).
He was placed under house arrest during the 1965 India-Pakistan War and declared a security threat, primarily because of his Hindu faith and because of his alleged links to the emerging underground Bengali Nationalist movement, supposed members of which included Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. After this, he refrained himself from active politics but kept on supporting the rising nationalist movement from behind.
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