Zaira hits out at Sports Minister for his take on ‘hijab’

New Delhi, January 20 

“Dangal” actress Zaira Wasim has rejected Sports Minister Vijay Goel’s comparison of a burkha-clad woman’s painting to her, saying that she should not be connected with such a “discourteous depiction”.

Goel in a tweet had posted a painting from an exhibition, which was a portrait of a woman in burkha, and written: “This painting tells a story similar to @zairawasim. Our girls are breaking out from cages and moving ahead. More power to our daughters!”

His post, however, did not go down well with Zaira, whose recent meeting with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti kicked up a storm in the Valley. Reacting to Goel’s post, Zaira wrote on Twitter today, “@VijayGoelBJP Sir, with all respect to you, I feel I must disagree. I request you not to connect me to such a discourteous depiction.”

She further wrote “women in hijab are beautiful and free”.

“@VijayGoelBJP Moreover, the story depicted through this painting is not even remotely relevant to mine.”  Goel was quick to defend his tweet and in his reply to Zaira, he wrote, “You have interpreted wrong. I appreciated your work and stated that evil and patriarchal notions must be discouraged.” — PTI