Dadi of Shaheen Bagh, Bilkis in TIME’s ‘Most Influential People of 2020’

Shaheen Bagh became the heart of protests against CAA as hundreds of people, mostly women, sat through out the winter for over 100 days on the road in a peaceful protest

Dadi of Shaheen Bagh, Bilkis in TIME’s ‘Most Influential People of 2020’
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PM Modi, an 82-year-old woman from Shaheen Bagh protests and actor Ayshmann Khurrana are among the people on TIME magazine's list of 100 ‘Most Influential People of 2020’.

Bilkis, alias "Dadi of Shaheen Bagh" has been listed in "Icons" category. While Modi is listed in Leaders category,

Bilkis is one among Dadis better known as the 'Dadis (Grandmothers) of Shaheen Bagh'.

Shaheen Bagh became the heart of protests against CAA as hundreds of people, mostly women, sat in the harsh winter for over 100 days on the road in a peaceful protest.

Bilkis’ profile in the magazine list, written by journalist and writer Rana Ayyub, reads, she "became the voice of the marginalized in India.... Became the symbol of resistance in a nation where the voices of women and minorities were being systematically drowned out by the majoritarian politics of the Modi regime.”

"With prayer beads in one hand and the national flag in the other, Bilkis became the voice of the marginalized in India, an 82-year-old who would sit at a protest site from 8 a.m. to midnight,” the profile further reads.

Bilkis had told NDTV during the protest, “Look at the protest where we are. It is not that only Muslims are protesting. Come and see how many people are distributing food. They are from all religions. Someone is giving us bananas, some giving us juice and biscuits,"

When asked why she, an old woman is protesting, she had told Indian Express, “We are old and we are not doing this for ourselves… This is for our children. Why else will we spend our days and nights during the coldest winter of our lives in the open?”


It was significantly due to the Dadis’ influence and women’s participation that the entire anti-CAA protest remained peaceful and largely non-violent.

The others featuring on the magazine's list includes Google CEO Sunday Pichai, US President Donald Trump, Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Professor Ravindra Gupta.

TIME Magazine’s annual list features pioneers, artists, titans, leaders and icons from around the world "who have had the most impact this year".

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