Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Kalraj Mishra and Ashok Pradhan were arrested Saturday on their way to Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly city, which had seen communal clashes earlier this month and in July.
The two BJP leaders were stopped by police in Moradabad, around 100 km from Bareilly, and they were arrested.
The two said they wanted to go to Bareilly to get a first hand account of the situation and to meet the people who were hit by the violence. Police said this was not possible and when the duo tried to still move ahead, they were put under preventive arrest, an official told IANS.
The two leaders were sent to a local hotel in Moradabad and asked not to step out until further orders.
Reacting sharply to his arrest, Mishra told IANS that the police action had proved that the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state has become "dictatorial".
Violence broke out twice in Bareilly in July and August and one person was killed and several dozen injured. Curfew was clamped in many parts of the city and business establishments, schools, colleges and offices remained close for a long period.