Bilkis dadi - a living example of fortitude and resilience

The 82-year-old, who had shot into the limelight last year during the months-long anti-citizenship law protest at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, was recognised by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2020.

New Delhi: Bilkis dadi, a prominent face of Shaheen Bagh protests, raised her voice against the Citizenship Amendment Act and proved her mettle not only in the country but all over the world.

At the age of 82, in September 2020, she was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people.

In November 2020, BBC listed Bilkis dadi in the list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2020.

Dadi was among the many women from Shaheen Bagh, who had stepped out of their houses to protest against the CAA law which they called “unconstitutional.”

For nearly four months, these protesters spent their days and nights under tents expressing their fears about the new law and discuss various constitutional themes.

Dadi while speaking to ETV Bharat on various issues of the year including farmers' protest said that they had to protest against CAA as they could not bear their children being beaten inside Jamia. Police attacked the students and left them wounded. Police even restored to tear gas shelling inside the bathrooms.

Talking about the farmers' protest, Dadi said that the new agriculture laws passed by the government are black laws and hold no good for the farmers.

Bilquees Dadi also tried to join the farmers' protests but was escorted away by the police.

She further added that they will continue to protest the black laws and firmly believe that the government will repeal these laws.

She went on to add that more the people who protest against the black laws, more will be the effect of these protests as more burning wood means more light.

The Shaheen Bagh protest against the controversial CAA went on for 101 days and was cleared by the Delhi Police on March 24 in the wake of the pandemic.