Ashok Mitra's 'mother of all questions: is the nation captive to Congress for eternity' is a very relevant question. The nation must respoond to it after considering his arguments which are: (1) Congress is no longer an all-India party; (2) a party that secures only 23% of the national vote has no right to be the ruling party; (3) if it is in power today it is because of the threat of takeover by the Rightists; (4) Congress may disintegrate any time the moment the Left and Lalu decide to withdraw suppot to it; and (5)Manmohan Singh will go the moment Sonia decides to make Rahul Gandhi the PM? These are very serious questions. Hence, the nation's response must also be appropriate to the occasion. This article must be circulated among all journalists, intellectuals, foreign policy students and practitioners and all heads of political parties. Yours -- Gopal Sharma
