Coach set ablaze to enact Godhra incident for Modi documentary

Vadodara: An unused railway coach was on Sunday set ablaze during the enactment of the 2002 Godhra training burning incident for a documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The coach, which a Western Railway official called a “mock drill bogie”, was set on fire though instructions to the documentary film crew was that it was to be returned after shooting in the same condition as it was provided.

Speaking to PTI Monday, Vadodara Railway Division spokesperson Khemraj Meena said, “The coach provided for the documentary was an unutilised mock drill bogie. It was given to the crew with the stipulation it would be returned in the same condition that it was given. We have charged money for its use.”

The Godhra train burning scene was shot at WR’s Pratapnagar station and a set was built for it near the Coach Care Centre there, said the documentary’s director Umesh Shukla.

The producers of the documentary had been given four-day permission for shooting on the broad and narrow gauge routes in Pratapnagar and Vishwamitri stations, Meena said.

Monday is the last day for shooting at WR stations, he added.

Jayraj Gadhvi, supervising executive of the shoot in Gujarat, said the coach was used to shoot the train burning scene from outside.

Fifty-nine ‘karsevaks’ were killed in the Godhra train burning incident of February 27, 2002, triggering the worst communal riots in the history of Gujarat in which over 1,000 people, mostly belonging to the minority community, were killed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat chief minister at that time.