The Communist Party of India (CPI) sent a formal letter to the Janata Dal-United (JD(U)) on Thursday, raising objections over a complaint the latter had lodged against Communist Janata Party (CJP) leaders who entered Jantar Mantar — a location whose designated protest-site status had been revoked shortly before those leaders arrived there.

The written complaint prompted P Sandosh Kumar — serving as both the party's national secretary and a Rajya Sabha member — to address a letter directly to JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar setting out his position on the matter.

Bearing national flags, members of the CJP leadership gathered at Jantar Mantar on 12 October to demonstrate against the removal of the site's official designation as a venue for public protest.

Sandosh Kumar pointed to Jantar Mantar's established role as a gathering place for students, farmers, trade unions, and political parties seeking to hold governments accountable. He raised questions about the JD(U)'s actions, noting that while Delhi Police — which functions under Home Minister Amit Shah's authority — had moved to contain protests directed at Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, a trespass complaint filed by the JD(U) itself against CJP activists represented, in his assessment, a turn he had not anticipated.

An FIR was registered by Delhi Police against leaders of the CJP following their entry into the Jantar Mantar protest venue, which had been officially closed to demonstrators at the time.

Citing the premises at 7, Jantar Mantar Road — a building that housed the united Indian National Congress as its headquarters from 1947 to 1969 and has long carried an association with the JD(U) — the Left party's leader contended that the complaint raised questions about the party's standing within democratic processes.

His objections covered the use of force against non-violent demonstrators, physical assaults on students, an incident in which a Rajya Sabha MP was targeted, and the suspension of rail services into Delhi aimed at limiting the gathering's reach. Those actions, he said, were part of a deliberate effort to limit dissenting voices and weaken bodies responsible for oversight — comments that surfaced as pressure mounted on CEC Gyanesh Kumar to answer for his conduct.

Invoking Nitish Kumar's early involvement in the 1970s student movement, Sandosh Kumar called on him to honour the democratic principles that had guided his political formation, requesting that the JD(U) retract its complaint against the CJP leaders and take a clear position against the use of criminal charges to suppress non-violent demonstrations.

In the written communication, Sandosh Kumar also called on Nitish Kumar to reconsider the party's alignment with the BJP, contending that the organisation's conduct posed a threat to constitutional order. He further argued that the moment demanded both political resolve and solidarity among those working to uphold democratic and constitutional principles.