Shaheen Bagh's Bilkis Bano stopped from joining protests

new delhi: As the Centre's talks with leaders of the farmers' protests were failing at the Vigyan Bhawan here on Tuesday afternoon, 82-year-old Bilkis Bano, who had become the symbol of the Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA/NRC sit-in, was physically prevented by the Delhi Police from meeting protesting farmers at the Delhi-Haryana border near Singhu.

Earlier in the day, Bano, who was recently named in TIME's list of 100 most influential people and the BBC's list of 100 women of 2020, had told news portals that she was going to support the farmers in their protest against the three farm laws in solidarity. In a short statement to a television channel, Bano said the farmers had stood with them during the CAA/NRC protests and that it was now her time to show her support.

Popularly known as the "Dadi" of Shaheen Bagh, Bano was escorted by no less than 20 police personnel from the Singhu protest site and first taken to the Shaheen Bagh police station before dropping her back to her South-east Delhi home, according to news reports.

"She was stopped at the Singhu Border and was escorted by the police back to her home in southeast Delhi," a senior police officer said.

"Bilkis Bano is a senior citizen and due to COVID-19 pandemic, she was stopped at the Singhu border and escorted by police to her home in Delhi for her own safety," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer North), Gaurav Sharma told reporters, adding that Bano was not

detained.

As per several news reports, when journalists asked police why Bano was being stopped from protesting with the farmers, they said the protests "should remain a farmers' protest".

Bano had shot into the limelight for her role in the anti-CAA/NRC protests in the Capital in December last year and early this year. She was one among many women of Shaheen Bagh who had braved the winter winds to sit at the protest site every day, seeking a revocation of the CAA and the NRC.

While the north-east Delhi riots and the subsequent pandemic had led to the Shaheen Bagh protest dying down, Bano was later named by TIME magazine in their list of 100 most influential people for the year.

And as farmers continue their protests in light of failed talks with the government, thousands more are on their way to the Singhu border and other borders of the Capital to create as much pressure on the Centre as possible so that they can leverage it to have their demands met.