Investigation Launched Into Claims Female Workers Told To Be ‘Invisible’ During Hindu Group’s Eiffel Tower Visit

A Hindu group has apologized and an investigation is underway over alleged demands that no female employees be visible during a controversial visit to the Eiffel Tower led to a one-day strike at the tourist attraction.A delegation of about 100 members of Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, also known as BAPS, visited the tourist site on Saturday and the union that represents employees told French media that the group had requested that no women be present.Members of the General Confederation of Labor, one of France’s largest and oldest trade unions, staged a one day strike on Monday to protest the treatment of female workers.French politicians reacted to the incident with outrage. The Paris mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, said the employees had the right to be angry. “It is not acceptable that such conditions can be tolerated. These are neither my values, nor those that the Eiffel Tower should uphold, where everyone—regardless of gender—should be able to move about and act freely, without distinction between women and men,” Mr. Grégoire said in a Monday post on X.The Île-de-France region’s president, Valérie Pécresse, said the incident was shocking. “I personally informed the representatives of BAPS in France that such practices are contrary to the laws of the Republic,” Ms. Pécresse said in an X post.“In France, we do not ask women to step aside. No dogma, no religion is superior to the laws of the Republic,” the Minister for Equality between Women and Men, Aurore Bergé, said in an X post. “In France, equality between women and men is neither negotiable nor variable. It is a principle and it allows no exceptions,” Ms. Bergé added.“In France, we will never accept that the presence of women be ‘limited,'” the leading candidate in the 2027 presidential election, Marine Le Pen, said on X.On Tuesday, BAPS Paris released a statement on X saying, “We understand the concerns expressed and take them very seriously.”The statement didn’t address the allegation that female employees were asked to leave their posts but the group said, “To our knowledge, at no time was access to the Eiffel Tower denied to anyone. Nevertheless, we wish to offer our sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or inconvenienced by this situation.”The Eiffel Tower Operating Company said the group had asked for limited “interactions with women” and supervisors told female employees to “make themselves invisible.” The company now says that was a mistake.On Tuesday, the central Paris mayor and president of the Eiffel Tower operating company, Ariel Weil, told BFMTV that an investigation is underway to “shed light” on what happened. Mr. Weil said he considered the incident “totally unacceptable from a legal point of view and especially from a moral point of view.”“I reaffirm the Eiffel Tower’s commitment to republican values and gender equality,” Mr. Weil said as the Eiffel Tower reopened for tourists on Tuesday.Thousands of Hindus associated with the BAPS Hindu spiritual movement took part in a series of events across France in the days ahead of the dedication. A delegation from BAPS, which is close to India’s prime minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, was in Paris for Sunday’s inauguration of the group’s first major temple in France. The movement has several spiritual centers in America with the largest located at Robbinsville, New Jersey.BAPS stresses Hindu values and describes itself as a “spiritual, volunteer-driven fellowship dedicated to improving society.”There were no major protests against BAPS, unlike at an August New York event featuring the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s leader, Mohan Bhagwat, at Madison Square Garden. A coalition of religious and civil rights groups organized protests outside the venue claiming the group is a right-wing paramilitary organization with a goal to promote Hindu nationalism.

Investigation Launched Into Claims Female Workers Told To Be ‘Invisible’ During Hindu Group’s Eiffel Tower Visit

Investigation Launched Into Claims Female Workers Told To Be ‘Invisible’ During Hindu Group’s Eiffel Tower Visit

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