Bilkis Dadi has become the face of anti-CAA protests.
New Delhi:
Bilkis Dadi from Delhi, Shaheen Bagh, who is on TIME magazine’s 100 ‘Most Influential People of 2020’ list, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ‘my son’ and that she would happily reunite if invited . The 82-year-old became the face of protests against anti-citizenship law in the country earlier this year.
Shaheen Bagh of Delhi, at the heart of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, had gained worldwide attention after the Citizenship Act was approved by parliament last year. Most of the protesters participating in the sit-in, which continued until the end of March, were women. Recalling the protesters’ struggle, Bilkis, alias “Dadi of Shaheen Bagh, ”told ANI News Agency:“ We continued our sit-in even though it was raining, the mercury was dropping or the temperature was soaring. We had been sitting since our children were beaten in Jamia. Shots were fired in front of us, but nothing deterred us. “
When asked if she would go to meet the Prime Minister, if she was invited, she replied: “Why not. I would go. What to be afraid of?” As the reporter asked her, if she would like to share her grievances with Prime Minister Modi, she said: “Modi ji is like my son. I am like his mother. I didn’t give birth to him … my sister did. (But) he’s like my child. “
“I congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for also being included in this list,” she said, and also referred to the country’s fight against the coronavirus. “Our first fight is against the coronavirus. The disease must be eliminated from the world,” she stressed. Shaheen Bagh’s protest site was cleaned up on March 24 as the nation’s capital reported the first cases of the disease and restrictions were announced.
The TIME magazine profile of Bilkis, written by journalist and writer Rana Ayyub, says she “has become the voice of the marginalized in India.” “With a rosary in one hand and the national flag in the other, Bilkis became the voice of the marginalized in India, an 82-year-old man who sat at a protest site from 8 a.m. to midnight (sic),” he said. .
Prime Minister Modi and actor Ayshmann Khurrana were also on TIME magazine’s list, alongside Google CEO Sundar Pichai, US President Donald Trump, Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Professor Ravindra Gupta.
