Goel in a tweet had posted a painting from an exhibition which was a portrait of a woman in burka and he wrote, “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 Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had kicked up a storm.
Reacting to Goel’s post, the Kashmir teen on Friday tweeted, “@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 posted that 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.
He added, “I’m afraid you still haven’t understood. But I wish you all the very best and appreciate your work. Hope to meet & interact too.”
Image: The photograph that Sports Minister Vijay Goel posted on Twitter with a caption reading, 'This painting tells a story similar to @zairawasim. Our girls are breaking out from cages and moving ahead. More power to our daughters!'. Photograph: @VijayGoelBJP/Twitter