By Muslim Mirror Staff
New Delhi: The two-month long sit-in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Shaheen Bagh were driven by the ‘dadi’s’ of Shaheen Bagh who gathered attention for their unshakeable determination and loyalty towards the protests. One of them was 82-year-old Bilkis who used to sit every day from early morning until late into the night. She became a prominent face of the protest for her resistance despite her age. She was among the women who walked everyday from their homes to the site and protested all day.
When I first met Bilkis, she sat in the midst of a crowd, surrounded by young women who were protesting with placards displaying verses of revolution. 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, said TIME piece by journalist Rana Ayoub.
She had been sitting there ever since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government passed the Citizenship Amendment Act, which could block Muslims from citizenship in the country, in December, and she continued through the cold winter. Bilkis, along with thousands of women who joined her in Shaheen Bagh, a neighborhood in New Delhi, 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. Bilkis gave hope and strength to activists and student leaders who were being thrown behind bars for standing up for the unpopular truth in a democracy that was sliding into authoritarianism, and inspired peaceful copycat protests across the country,the article read
She said to me as a parting note: “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 deserves recognition so the world acknowledges the power of resistance against tyranny.
has the caa effected any muslim in india,
no
so why were the protests.
just to promote hate against the nda govt.
shaheen bagh has given muslims a bad name- cant do anything positive- sports,art ,education
no . no. no.
great bilkis-got yourself in time.
Bro, its not just CAA in isolation but CAA+NRC will spell the death knell for lakhs of undocumented Muslims of India. First educate yourself before passing un inviting judgements.
promoted by rana ayub, a bigoted muslim-
western press loves creatures like her.
heros like malala, banned from pakistan never praised. shows muslim mentality
is this poor misguided dadi the new muslim hero.
look at usa- hillary clinton, pelosi, kama devi harrison, and dozens more
what a poor state of muslim women and men,
only muslim women i admire is sania mirza, tennis champion. the rest are poor supressed creatures.
Rana is seeker of truth, I hope you are aware of the sting operation she did to expose your pet political party’s complicity in Gujurat progom of 2002 as mentioned in Gujarat files.