In the wake of the killing of veteran Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique, a senior BJP leader has advised Bollywood actor Salman Khan to apologise to the Bishnoi community for the black buck incident that took place around 20 years ago.
Rajya Sabha MP Harnath Singh Yadav said black buck holds great cultural and religious significance for the Bishnoi community.
The case involves the alleged poaching of a black buck when Khan and his co-stars were filming the movie Hum Saath-Saath Hain in Rajasthan forests in 1998. Khan was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment in the case. He is currently out on bail while the court is hearing an appeal against his conviction.
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“Some 23-24 years ago, Salman Khan went to Rajasthan for the shooting of a film. He went hunting and killed a black buck. The blackbuck is worshipped in the Bishnoi community, and its killing left the community furious,” Harnath Singh was quoted as saying by IANS.
“The best way to end this is to repent and apologise. Apologising does not diminish a person’s status; it enhances it,” he further said.
Earlier, in a post on X on Sunday, the MP had urged the actor to respect the Bishnoi community’s sentiments and apologise.
“Dear Salman Khan, the Bishnoi community worships the blackbuck as a deity. You hunted it, cooked it, and ate it. The community has been angry for a long time because of this. My good advice is to apologise and make amends,” Singh said in his post.
The MP’s remarks came even as Maharashtra police stepped up the security of the actor who is reportedly in the hit list of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The group had claimed responsibility for the killing of Siddique who had close ties with Khan.
A Mumbai court on Monday remanded the third person arrested for the killing of Siddique to police custody till October 21. The accused, Pravin Lonkar, was arrested on Sunday from Pune and is accused of enlisting two of the three alleged shooters who opened fire at Siddique.
