evidence: Modi’s relationship with Adani began in 2002, after the pogrom in Gujarat, in which Hindu extremists killed some 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, with the connivance of Modi, then the state’s chief minister. Some members of the Confederation of Indian Industry called for Modi’s resignation. Others decided to support him and founded a new organisation, the Resurgent Group of Gujarat (RGG), with Adani, then 40, as its leader. [...] Even before Modi became chief minister, Gujarat’s policies were India’s most business-friendly. During his term, Modi extended the concessions they made, creating special economic zones (SEZs) and national investment and manufacturing zones (NIMZs), and transferring farmland to industry, exempting it from tax, and labour and environmental regulations. Cutting procedural corners became the norm. In 2008, when Ratan Tata abandoned the idea of building a car factory in West Bengal after peasant farmer protests, Modi reportedly offered him land in Gujarat with a one-word text: ‘Suswagatam’ (welcome). A grateful Tata called him ‘an extremely easy person to deal with – very informal, compatible and pleasant, and capable as well’ (2).