BAPS monk Brahmavihari Swami has said the controversy over women employees allegedly being sidelined during the Hindu organisation’s visit to the Eiffel Tower in Paris on September 5 this year was the result of a “miscommunication”, adding that he did not blame the monument’s management for the incident. Speaking at the NDTV World Summit, Brahmavihari Swami said an investigation had found that no explicit request had been made by the BAPS delegation to exclude women employees from the entire procession.
The incident prompted a staff walkout, the closure of the Eiffel Tower for a day and widespread criticism in France, where secularism and gender equality are central public values. The controversy erupted after female employees were reportedly removed from their duties or kept out of sight during a private visit by the BAPS delegation on September 5.
An investigation by the General Inspectorate of the City of Paris found no written evidence of an explicit request from the Hindu delegation to exclude women from the entire procession. He praised media organisations, including NDTV, for examining the findings and reporting on the investigation.
The inquiry identified failures in communication and what it described as a “collective dysfunction”, according to a report by French newspaper Le Parisien . Explaining the religious practices followed by monks, he said their observance of brahmacharya (celibacy) was a matter of personal spiritual discipline, not a rejection of women or a justification for gender discrimination.
