Approximately a month after the incident involving the Eiffel Tower, a high-ranking monk from the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sect (BAPS) has announced that the organization received a “clean chit” from Parisian authorities, clarifying that they did not request the removal of female employees during their visit.
The Eiffel Tower was temporarily closed on September 7 following protests by staff over the alleged exclusion of women during a private visit by a BAPS delegation on September 5, which was led by Mahant Swami. This visit coincided with the Festival of Culture in Paris, celebrating the opening of the group’s new temple the previous month.
In a video released on Friday, Brahmavihari Swami stated, “An independent agency appointed by the city of Paris, specifically the Inspector General, conducted a thorough investigation and confirmed that BAPS received a clean chit. The organization never requested the removal of female staff, and the authorities have stated that the investigation clears BAPS.”
He further explained, “There was some confusion surrounding the spiritual practices of a ‘sadhu’. Brahmacharya is one of the four stages of Hindu dharma, and this misunderstanding has been propagated globally.”
The investigation by the General Inspectorate of the City of Paris (IGVP) reportedly concluded that there was “no explicit request” from BAPS regarding the exclusion of female staff members.
This statement comes on the heels of an announcement made on September 29 by the director of the company managing the Eiffel Tower, who plans to resign at the end of the year due to the fallout from the incident, as reported by AFP.
Patrick Branco Ruivo, who has served as the director general of the Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE) since 2018, acknowledged that the investigation uncovered “operational flaws and shortcomings” that led to the “unacceptable” sidelining of female employees.
In response to the findings, BAPS Paris released a statement affirming, “From the beginning, BAPS has maintained that it did not request the concealment, removal, or exclusion of female employees. The investigation confirms that BAPS made no such request regarding the exclusion of women along the visitor route. We hope this clarification fosters a better understanding of the events and allows all parties to proceed respectfully.”
The BAPS delegation, consisting of nearly 100 monks, visited Paris as part of a week-long celebration leading up to the inauguration of the Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges, a suburb located east of Paris, on September 6.
According to reports from the French newspaper Le Parisien, the IGVP determined that the incident stemmed from a “collective dysfunction.” The General Inspectorate, which began its investigation on September 8, conducted 14 interviews and reviewed documents provided by SETE upon request.
At the conclusion of its investigation, Le Parisien stated that the IGVP decisively confirmed that there was no “explicit request from the Hindu religious delegation aimed at excluding women during the visit.” The report also noted that “women were indeed sidelined during this visit.”
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