Southern Africa-Open Collusion

August 8, 1981 Politics IF the high drama of midnight meetings and elaborately drafted messages by hand of the 1969 split in the Congress party was not entirely without some political substance and, moreover, had very high stakes, the present split which comprises only all the similar postur- ings but with little political substance and less stakes, can only be described as low farce. The leading actors, many of whom were also prominent in 1969, are now mere shadows of their former selves; Devkanta Barooah, for instance, has earned just a mention in passing in one of the reports. And even as they go through their motions, they are entirely without the expectant audience that the earlier drama had commanded.