Shaheen Bagh's 82-year-old 'dadi' Bilkis on Time's 100 Most Influential list

Bilkis, the 82-year-old 'dadi' who sat at Shaheen Bagh every day during the anti-CAA protest, has been voted as one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine on Wednesday.

Journalist Rana Ayyub wrote a blurb for Bilkis in the Time magazine. Ayyub wrote how Bilkis became a voice of the marginalised in the country.  With prayer beads in one hand and the national flag in the other, the 82-year-old would sit at a protest site from 8 am to midnight, Ayyub wrote.

Ayyub said that Bilkis once told her, "I will sit here till blood stops flowing in my veins so the children of this country and the world breathe the air of justice and equality".

Bilkis is among the five Indians who have featured on this list. Others are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, London-based Indian-origin doctor Ravindra Gupta, who found a cure for AIDS and Bollywood actor Ayushmann Khurrana.

Last year, on December 16, Muslim women began peacefully protesting at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi demanding to scrap the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Later, hundreds of people from different faiths joined the protesters in what they said was to "save the constitution".

However, the protest ended on March 24 as Janata Curfew, and nationwide lockdown were imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act seeks to amend the definition of illegal immigrant for Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have lived in India without documentation but blocks naturalisation for Muslims.

Also read: Ayushmann Khurrana: Long road from Roadies contestant to Time's 100 Most Influential

Also read: Ayushmann Khurrana makes it to Time's 100 most influential list; Deepika Padukone praises actor's hardwork