After the Partition of India, Mujib chose to stay in the newly created Pakistan.

On his return to
what became known as East Pakistan, he enrolled in the University of Dhaka to study law and
founded the East Pakistan Muslim Students' League. He became one of the most prominent
student political leaders in the province. During these years, Mujib developed an affinity for
socialism as the solution to mass poverty, unemployment, and poor living conditions. Following
the declaration of Muhammad Ali Jinnah on 21 March 1948, that the people of East Bengal
would have to adopt Urdu as the state language, protests broke out amongst the population.He
was arrested for language movement on 11 September 1948 and On 21 January 1949, Sheikh
Mujib was released from prison. In early January 1950, the Awami Muslim League brought out
an anti-famine procession in Dhaka on the occasion of the arrival of Pakistan's Prime
Minister Liaquat Ali Khan to East Pakistan. Sheikh Mujib was arrested this time because of his
leadership. His service was imprisoned for two years. On 26 January 1952, Khwaja
Nazimuddin announced that Urdu would be the only state language of Pakistan. In spite of being
kept in jail after this announcement, Mujib played a special role in organizing protests and
prevention. He played the role of guiding the state language movement by issuing instructions
from jail. After this it was decided to observe 21 February, as the day of recognition for state
language. At the same time Sheikh Mujib decided to observe the fast on 14 February from jail.
His fasting was effective 13 days. On 26 February, he was released from jail.[4][17][18][19]