India, May 8 -- Politics is ruthless and unforgiving and, therefore, also has an elephantine memory. The suddenly-diminished former chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, is now invoking solidarity with the INDIA bloc - the on-again, off-again alliance of a few Opposition parties who came together before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But many of her peers might want to remind her that it was she who blocked the ascent of Nitish Kumar as convenor of the group.

Since then, Kumar has crossed sides, Banerjee has been confronted with a dramatic defeat and the 22-year-old alliance between the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has collapsed.

There is, in effect, no INDIA alliance.

And even if it existed in some manner ...