Veteran bhajan singer Anup Jalota has said there is only one way to bring an end to the continuing cycle of violence targeting people close to Bollywood superstar Salman Khan: the actor himself should apologise to the Bishnoi community. Jalota made the appeal in an exclusive conversation with news agency IANS, reacting to the firing incident involving actor Tiger Shroff in Mumbai's Juhu area on Sunday evening.
"I am very saddened by this. There is only one way to stop all this. Salman Khan should apologise to the Bishnoi community," Jalota said, referring to the gunshots fired at Tiger Shroff's car as the actor was leaving after a football match.
According to reports, unidentified assailants riding a motorcycle opened fire in the Juhu area. Tiger Shroff escaped without injuries, but his driver and a bystander sustained bullet injuries. Both were taken to hospital and were reported to be out of danger.
Jalota said he had made a similar appeal earlier, and warned that the hostility could keep hurting people associated with Salman Khan as well as their families if the matter remained unresolved. "I have said this before. It is very important that the Bishnoi community, which has been hurt, should be apologized to otherwise, the Bishnoi community will continue to be hurt. Those who work with Salman Khan will be hurt, their families will also be hurt," the singer said.
"So, why not make a firm decision to apologise to the Bishnoi community to end this all? This is what I want," Jalota added, urging Salman to take a firm step towards resolving an issue that has shadowed the actor for years.
The remarks have brought renewed attention to a dispute that stretches back to the 1998 blackbuck poaching case in Rajasthan, in which Salman Khan was accused. The Bishnoi community, which holds the blackbuck sacred, has nursed resentment over the case for nearly three decades. Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi has issued threats against Salman Khan multiple times in the past, and his associates have claimed responsibility for a series of recent attacks on Bollywood figures.
After the Tiger Shroff incident, a social media post and an audio message attributed to individuals claiming links to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang surfaced. The messages claimed responsibility for the firing, demanded an apology from Salman Khan to the Bishnoi community, and threatened people associated with the actor. Investigators have not officially confirmed the authenticity of these claims, and the probe into the shooting is continuing.
Jalota's comments also come amid what The Indian Express described as a recent spate of violence against Bollywood celebrities. Associates of Lawrence Bishnoi have claimed responsibility for attacks on figures including filmmaker Rohit Shetty and now Tiger Shroff, attributing the reason in each case to the celebrities' closeness with Salman Khan. The pattern has raised serious questions about the security of high-profile film personalities in Mumbai.
The bhajan singer's core argument is that the resentment of the Bishnoi community over the blackbuck poaching controversy is the root of the hostility, and that addressing that hurt directly through an apology is the only durable way to defuse it. "I am very saddened by this," he repeated, making clear that his concern extends beyond any single incident to the safety of everyone in Salman's orbit.
The suggestion of an apology has divided opinion in the past. Supporters of Jalota's view argue that a gesture of reconciliation could lower the temperature around a dispute that has repeatedly spilled into real-world violence. Others contend that yielding to demands made through threats would set a dangerous precedent, and that the answer lies in stronger law enforcement action against organised crime networks rather than concessions.
What is not in dispute is the seriousness of the threat. The firing at Tiger Shroff's vehicle in a busy Mumbai locality, in which two people were hit by bullets, marked an escalation. That the attackers allegedly targeted the car of one of Bollywood's best-known action stars, in the presence of bystanders, has alarmed the film industry and put fresh pressure on the Mumbai Police to act decisively.
For Salman Khan, the Bishnoi threat is not new. His security cover has been enhanced repeatedly over the years, and his movements are among the most closely guarded in the entertainment industry. Yet the attacks on those around him suggest that protecting one individual is not the same as resolving the underlying confrontation.
Jalota, a respected figure in devotional music, is not known for commenting on underworld-linked controversies, which is partly why his intervention has drawn attention. His appeal frames the issue as a moral and emotional one rather than purely a law-and-order problem: a community that feels wronged, an apology that could acknowledge that hurt, and an end to a cycle in which each new incident deepens the divide.
Whether Salman Khan responds to the appeal remains to be seen. The actor has not publicly commented on Jalota's remarks. In the past, he has largely left questions of security and legal proceedings to the authorities. But with the Bishnoi-linked threats now touching a widening circle of Bollywood personalities, the pressure for some form of resolution — whether through dialogue, as Jalota suggests, or through the force of the law — is only growing.
For now, the investigation into the Juhu firing continues. The police are examining the claims of responsibility and tracing the assailants, while the film industry watches anxiously. Jalota's message, however, looks beyond the immediate case to the larger question: how does one of Indian cinema's longest-running feuds finally end?
His answer — an apology, offered firmly and finally — is unlikely to be the last word on the subject, but it has ensured that the debate will continue in the days ahead.
The episode has also reignited a wider public debate about how India deals with organised crime groups that operate across state borders and use social media to amplify their threats. Security experts have pointed out that claims of responsibility issued online are themselves a tactic, designed to spread fear far beyond the immediate victims.
For the Mumbai Police, the challenge is twofold: solving the Juhu shooting on the ground, and countering the narrative that no one close to a targeted celebrity is safe.
(Reporting based on NDTV and The Indian Express.)