Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad and C P Thakur were detained in Patna on Thursday during a protest against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government over Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail and the hike in diesel prices.
Several other opposition leaders have also been detained by the police.
BJP activists took to the streets in Patna, riding bicycles and raising slogans against the ruling alliance.
"We are on the streets against the FDI in retail and inflation. This government is anti-people," Prasad told media personnel prior to his detention.
Several other opposition parties are also participating in the nationwide shutdown called by the National Democratic Alliance to protest against the reform measures, including FDI in multi-brand retail, announced by the government last week.
Normal life across Bihar was affected on Thursday. Hundreds of workers and leaders of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal United and its ally BJP, as well as the Left Front, blocked railway tracks and forcibly halted dozens of trains.
Supporters of the Communist Party of India - Marxist also took to the streets in Patna to vent their ire over the decisions taken by the ruling UPA government.
"The Left parties will continue their fight as the government has introduced Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector and increased the price of diesel," said Arun Kumar Mishra, one of the protestors in Patna.
"The government took the decision on its own by passing an executive order; the Parliament was not functioning. It is an insult of the democratic system that they took such an important decision without discussing it in Parliament. Therefore, this government is anti-people," he added.
With additional inputs from ANI
