I didn't give birth to him, still Modiji is my son: Shaheen Bagh's Bilkis 'Dadi'

Bilkis Dadi from Delhi's Shaheen Bagh said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "like her son" and also that she would be happy to meet him, if invited.

The 82-year-old woman, was enlisted in TIME magazine's 100 "Most Influential People of 2020", along with PM Modi and Bollywood actor Ayushman Khurrana.

She became the face of a women-led anti-citizenship law protest at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi.

As per a report by NDTV, on being asked if she would go to meet the Prime Minister, if invited, she said: "Why not? I would go. What's there to be scared about?" As the reporter asked her if she would like to share her grievances with PM Modi, she said: "Modiji is my son. I am like his mother. I didn't give birth to him... my sister did. (But) he is my child."

"I am very happy that I have been honoured with such respect. Although I did not expect this but who knows whom God gives recognition?" she said, according to IANS.

"I have only read the Quran and never went to school. But today I am happy, congratulations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too," she added. "God bless him with a long life and give him happiness," she said.

Earlier, Bilkis, who on Thursday said she was happy to have been recognised by the TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2020, but would have been happier had her demand been met.

Bilkis, one of the feisty 'dadis' who was demonstrating against the CAA since it began, in February had declared that they wouldn't move an inch even if someone fires a gun.

The wizened elderly woman had said the main tent where the podium has been erected covers only 100 to 150 metres of the road, earlier this year.

As the protests continued till late March, she told news agency ANI: "We continued our sit-in even as it rained or mercury dropped or temperature shot up. We had been sitting ever since our kids were thrashed in Jamia. Shots were fired in front of us, yet nothing deterred us."

The Shaheen Bagh protest site was cleared up on March 24 after New Delhi reported its first few Covid-19 cases and lockdown restrictions were announced.

(With inputs from PTI)