Bilkis, an 82-year-old woman who protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh neighbourhood, was among the Indians featured on the TIME magazine list of “The 100 Most Influential People of 2020”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bollywood actor Ayushman Khurana, Professor of Clinical Microbiology Ravindra Gupta, and Google Chief Executive officer Sundar Pichai also made it to the list.
Bilkis, along with more than a thousand other women, became the symbol of resistance in a country where the “voices of women and minorities were being systematically drowned” by the Modi government, wrote journalist Rana Ayyub. “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…