82-year old Bilkis Bano, better known as the Shaheen Bagh ‘daadi’ has been named Person of the Year alongside Professor Ilhan Tohti by The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims.

The publication says Bilkis Bano “has managed to mobilise and inspire many to stand up against an ideology that is threatening to destroy India as we know it.” It lauds her for “starting a simple Gandhian sit-in protest on a road in her locality of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi” and how that helped “bring the world’s attention to India’s slide into Hindutva”. Bilkis Bano has been named Woman of the Year by the publication.

This honour is significant, especially in wake of Delhi Police officials detaining the octogenarian activist when she reached Singhu border to express solidarity with protesting farmers on December 1. Moreover, this is not the first time international publications have taken notice of Bilkis Bano. She was called a global icon by Time magazine that listed her among it 100 most influential people earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Ilhan Tohti, a professor of Economics who used to host the Uyghur Online website before it was shut down by Chinese authorities was named Man of the Year. Tohti has been in prison since 2014 as he had used his website to advocate rights of Uyghurs and asked why they were denied economic opportunities by the Chinese authorities. Many Uyghurs are forced to live in ‘re-education’ camps where they are forced to denounce Islam and their culture. 

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While farmers’ leaders began their discussion with government officials regarding the three agriculture laws on December 1, 2020, Delhi police detained Shaheen Bagh activist Bilkis or ‘Bilkis daadi’ who reached Singhu border to show her solidarity with the farmers movement.

Speaking to ANI reporters, the 82-year-old woman said, “We are daughters of farmers. We will go to support farmers’ protest today. We will raise our voice. The government should listen to us.”

We are daughters of farmers, we’ll go to support farmers’ protest today. We will raise our voice, the government should listen to us: Bilkis Dadi, Shaheen Bagh activist #Delhi pic.twitter.com/Cfo50IrVxP

— ANI (@ANI) December 1, 2020

Hours before reaching the border, the iconic daadi had sent out a message stating that she would support her farmer brothers who demanded the withdrawal of the three anti-farmer-dubbed laws – the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, as well as the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 and the Electricity Bill 2020. She said that she would support farmers just as they had supported Shaheen Bagh protests.

Earlier, the aged activist had attracted undue attention during the farmers’ protest as the right-wing IT cell began circulating a month-old image of Daadi supposedly marching in solidarity with farmers. Actress Kangana Ranaut and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) top IT person Amit Malviya shared the fake news for which they received heavy criticism. However, after the incident, Bilkis resolved to join her voice with the farmers’ movement.

The Time magazine dubbed “global icon” Bilkis daadi is known across India for her influential role in Shaheen Bagh protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and similar discriminatory laws passed by the ruling regime.

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