A Beginner's Guide to Bihar's Alliances of Many Frenemies

Members of the anti-BJP ‘grand alliance’ at a joint rally in Patna. (Photo: Press Trust of India)

BJP chief Amit Shah has called the Bihar election a battle between “a coalition of compulsion” and “a coalition of common chemistry and similar ideologies.” History and current events, however, present a far more complex web of political relationships. It’s complicated.