London/New Delhi, Sep 8 : The Eiffel Tower was closed for a day on Monday after its staff went on strike over female employees being “moved away” for a visit by a Hindu religious group, according to the iconic Paris monument’s management and staff.
The incident that triggered the strike took place on Saturday during a visit by around 100 people associated with BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam) Swaminarayan Sanstha, Euronews reported.
When asked about the controversy, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing in New Delhi: “We are aware of the opening of a temple by the BAPS Sanstha in the Paris area. As to the particular issue pertaining to the Tower, this is a matter purely between the entities concerned.”
Diane Davoine, a union representative in France, said in a statement that female workers had been “moved away from their workstations as the delegation passed by”.
Eiffel Tower employees condemned what they described as “professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex”, the report said.
In a statement issued by the CGT trade union, the staff condemned “workplace instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and rendered invisible on the basis of their gender”.
“Some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to other areas. In some posts they were replaced by men,” according to the statement quoted by France24. “And all female employees were instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present.”
The popular tourist hub in the French capital, which witnesses nearly seven million visitors a year, opened as usual on Tuesday, after the operating company, Societe d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE), acknowledged that limited “interactions with women” had been requested by a BAPS delegation, and that the “conditions should not have been accepted”.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said the Eiffel Tower staff’s anger was legitimate, called the reported conditions unacceptable and said an investigation would be launched to establish what happened.
“I am taking note of the anger expressed by the employees of the Eiffel Tower, and I want to tell them that their discontent is legitimate,” Gregoire said on X.
“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. It is urgent that full light be shed on the facts that led to this mobilisation.”
“Equality between women and men will never stop at the foot of our historical monuments, nor anywhere in this city. It must be applied everywhere, for everyone,” he added. “I will ensure this, everywhere and without exception. An investigation will be launched as quickly as possible.”
The BAPS Hindu temple in Paris has issued an apology and said it understood the concerns raised over the incident, adding that they took them “very seriously”. It said the visit was organised in coordination with the Eiffel Tower teams at the start of normal opening hours to minimise disruption to other visitors.
“To our knowledge, at no time was access to the Eiffel Tower denied to anyone,” it said in a statement on X on Monday, while offering “our sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or inconvenienced by this situation”.
It further said it was “deeply committed to the universal values of mutual respect and service to others”.
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, according to its website, is a “socio-spiritual Hindu faith with its roots in the Vedas”, founded on “practical spirituality”. A million or more followers are part of its global community, which includes more than 1,300 temples, spread across North America, Europe, Africa, West Asia, India and the Asia-Pacific region, according to its website.
The religious group consecrated its first major temple in France on Sunday, near Paris. BAPS Mandir Swaminarayan Hindou de Paris (BAPS Hindu Mandir of Paris) has been described as the “first traditional Hindu temple in France”.
Their delegation is in France for the opening of the temple and has been touring sites across Paris.
The incident at the Eiffel Tower has sparked criticism from several senior French politicians.
France’s National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet also condemned the incident, saying she refused to accept that women should be told to step aside to meet the demands of foreign visitors.
“I refuse to allow women to be compelled to step aside in order to meet the demands of foreign visitors. Welcoming others never means renouncing our values. In France, women fully occupy public spaces. No one dictates to them that they must become invisible there,” she said in a social media post.
French Minister for Gender Equality and the Fight Against Discrimination Aurore Berge termed the incident “unacceptable”, stressing that equality between women and men is a non-negotiable principle in France.
She issued a statement saying, “In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves. No dogma, no religion is above the laws of the Republic.”
Former prime minister Gabriel Attal also criticised the incident, saying: “In France, no culture, no belief, no worship, nothing nor anyone can dictate to women their place. Full support to the teams mobilising to defend our Eiffel Tower, beacon of freedom and emancipation.”
