Dangal actress Zaira Wasim has found herself in the midst of a fresh row after engaging in a war of words on Twitter with sports minister Vijay Goel. The exchange began when Goel, who was inaugurating The India Art Festival in Delhi on 19 January came across a painting that he felt reminded him of the story of 'girls like Zaira'. The painting in question showed a girl in hijab, while in the foreground, a young girl sits trapped in a birdcage. Goel tweeted an image of the canvas, along with the words, "This painting tells a story similar to Zaira Wasim's. | More power to our daughters!" Wasim, however, was not appreciative of Goel's observations and said as much in her tweets to him. While the 16-year-old actress' first tweet was later deleted, the second and third were still available on her timeline. In them, she wrote: "Women in hijab are beautiful and free... Moreover, the story depicted through the painting is not even remotely relevant to mine." Goel backtracked after Zaira's tweets, insisting that it was not his intention to hurt, and she had misunderstood what he was attempting to say. "You have interpreted wrong (sic)," the minister wrote. "I appreciated your work and stated that evil and patriarchal notions must be discouraged." With respect to her final tweet, he wrote, "I'm afraid you still haven't understood. But I wish you all the very best and appreciate your work. Hope to meet and interact too." Zaira did not reply to the minister's final tweets. Here's a snapshot of their Twitter exchange: Zaira, who played the young Geeta Phogat in Aamir Khan's Dangal, recently found herself at the end of cyber bullying from trolls after she met with Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed. Kashmir has been in a state of unrest ever since popular militant commander Burhan Wani was shot dead by Indian forces. His death sparked anti-India protests in the Valley, leading to a curfew being imposed in the state.
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