 He was actively involved in politics as the President of Bharatiya Jana Sangh from 1956 to 1965, except for the period between 1960 and 1962.He was the longest serving opposition party leader in Indian history, and the fourth longest serving leader of any political party after Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.Debaprasad was born in a Bengali Hindu family on 15 March 1894 in the village of Gava, in the district of Barisal, in eastern Bengal, now in Bangladesh.