Featured on TIME’s list, Bilkis says would have been happier if demand was met

“When we told her that she has been declared as one of the most influential people in the world, she just said ”okay”,” her son Manzoor Ahmad told PTI on the phone.

Explained| Who is Bilkis, the Shaheen Bagh ‘dadi’ in TIME’s list of most influential people of 2020?

She is not as excited as the family is, Ahmad, who works as a translator, said.

“I am thankful to the almighty. I would have been much happier had our demand been fulfilled…had the government listened to us and given us what we wanted (withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act),” Bilkis said in a trembling voice.

“It is sad we had to call it (protest) off because of the disease (COVID-19). I was there till the end,” she said.

Ahmad said his mother had taken ill in December last year, but she continued going to the protest site.

Time 100| Yes, PM Modi is on the list, but guess who the other Indians are

“It was so cold and she was running a fever, despite that she went there to support other women,” he said.

Ahmad said all women in his family participated in the protest.

“We are a joint family. So, the women took turns to participate in the dharna,” he said.

The Shaheen Bagh protest demanding the government to withdraw the law went on for over a hundred days. It ended in March this year in view of the COVID-19 outbreak and a subsequent lockdown announced by the government to contain the spread of the disease.

Also on the TIME magazine”s list from India are Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bollywood actor Ayushman Khurrana.