A bit of commonsense & tolerance please, British Airways
This month we have witnessed two incidents where Hindus have been penalized at work for wearing a symbol of their faith. One of these has occurred in Britain, and the other surprisingly occurred in India.
Most Hindus in today’s age are fairly discrete about their faith and beliefs. Religion is generally a private affair for most of us rather than something that we flaunt, and rightfully so. However, one cannot see why Hindus who do choose to make some small outward expression of their faith should be penalized for doing so.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:03 am
its a shame Hindus are treated with low dignity , if its a muslim wearing a vail or a Singh with a turban , and they were told off it would be hell in BA, so why should we keep quite, as Hindus in general we should STOP flying BA , there are pleanty more airlines, , Think and be proud being a Hindu. if we dont unite we will be pushed. have fun
September 28th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Hope she succeeds in her appeal–
but if it goes otherwise– I will most certainly Avoid travelling in
British Airways–
I think if many Hindus do the same- unite & voice out ..
We will NOT be constantly treated 2nd class..
Please keep us informed.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:55 am
Hindu leaders should have approached the senior management and told them clearly that this type of sacking decisions are unaccpetable and that they should re-instate Amrit forthwith. I find it disturbing that we have allowed this to happen.
September 28th, 2007 at 8:00 am
well done we hindu should unite like our brothers muslims to have our religious rights. high time we hindus whatevere our religion but unity is required and there is strenght in it. we can definately make our peaceloving society and london mayour ken livinstone is with us
September 28th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Hi all
It’s time for hindus to be united against discrimination towards us and fight for our religious rights both in India and abroad.
Pradip datta
September 28th, 2007 at 10:02 am
SHE IS ICON FOR INDUS WHO ARE ON THIS PLANET.SHE IS PRIDE OF INDUS. LET US UNITE AND FIGHT HER CASE.
B.S.SHETTY
ADDISA ABABA
ETHIOPIA
September 28th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Nose pierecing has nothimg to do with religion! Lot of White community girls have their nose and ears piereced. It is somethimg to do with beauty rather than religion. It is time people stop putting everything down to religion when it is anything to do with minor ethnics.
September 28th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Kalpana that is not true, in Bharat certain castes & communities among Hindus consider it the sign of a married Hindu woman, just because not all Hindus do it don’t mean it has nothing to do with religion, another example is a toe ring called bichiya in Hindi, this is supposed to be worn by all married women in my area, to an outsider it might look like another decoration but to the locals it is the sign of a married woman. As for white girls, Madonna has bindi at times, so are you now gonna say that sindhoor has nothing to do with Hindus, plenty of things have come into western culture these past few years that were adopted from us & now we have Hindus ignorantly claiming that these are gora fashions & don’t have anything to do with us, the same with men’s ear rings which is also done by Hindus from ancient times.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
I am very proud of sister Mrs Lalji. I am with everybody who considers stopping flying with this perticular airways
September 28th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Iam agree with nish is very relevent they should not do like this
September 28th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Mrs. Lalji I am very prud to note that you kept kept as a Hindu Tradition Keep up I suppot uou move. Hari Ram thiagaraja
September 28th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
While I don’t think the nose ring has much to do with religion, it is more a cultural thing. But what harm can it do for her to wear it. It’s definately unfair on her, especially considering she was never told about it in her induction. Hope she gets thedeserved compensation.
September 28th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
“We understand that Mrs Lalji’s family is facing significant financial hardship as a result of the loss of income from losing her job. We wish them well though their hard time”
Similarly a lot of well wishers above.
I dont think simple blessings are going to feed their family or pay the mortgage.
Do they want donations and is anyone prepared to collect for them?
Can anyone find out?
September 28th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
I have already stopped travelling in British Airways, on another matter, long time ago. If more people join forces and heart them most than they will treat us well >>>>>>>>
September 29th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
British Airways,
You are making mountin of a mole hill. Please note this is unnecessary
and uncalled for.
I suggest Mrs. Lalji should seek a recourse through the British Court
All the Hindu societies should unite to fight the case giving support to her
both moral and financial.
Praful Dave
September 30th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
We’re proud of you Mrs. Lalji, you have shown true devotion, and you have become an idol for the younger generations. the hindu youths alike me.
October 1st, 2007 at 12:54 pm
I totally am with Mrs Lalji. Its truely unfair for British Airways to act like this, especially at times when all the British multinationals claim to have removed castism from their code of conduct and have a more sympathetic approach towards the resident aliens.
October 2nd, 2007 at 8:31 am
Ask BA if the Christian cross is forbidden to wear. If yes, then no religious symbols should be worn. If no, then BA is in big problems….
October 3rd, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Our sister A. Lalji is not insulted but it’s challange to all Asians/Africans/South Americans by the white communalists.
Shame to colonial British Airways. We all must bycott such a shamefull airlines. From Nepal as a true Hindu I am with all my kin & kiths.
Shame to the Yankeeee intolerance.
Blessings of Lord Pashupatinath to Ms Lalji.
Namaste to all.
Prem Kaidi
Kathmandu GPO#4911,Nepal
October 4th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
We Nepalese are always nearest friend of United Kingdom. For us international relation means first the Great Britain but after the news I read about the inhuman discrimination to my sister Mrs. Amrit Lalji I am deeply hurt. I have so many friends in GB & my community people are in security service & serve UK as their own country. But the management of British airways is seems so hopeless that their sensetivity is zero.
So I suggest all Asian & other kith & kin to follow our Guru the Great Mahatma Gandhi & bycott the BA till they correct themself by providing compensation & rehabilate her with full prestige. Tolerance & disobiedence is our highest form of fighting tool.
Also I request to all my family of Hindus not to be exited against any community or religoin because we Hindus have more responsibilities
towards all humanities.
Dr. Indira Shah
Kenichi Kumakiri Energy Healing Center
Ashanand Swadharm Vihar
Thahity (Thamail) Kathmandu
October 5th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
FYI.
Sacked Hindu British Airways worker wins right to wear nose stud at work
By ANI
Friday October 5, 11:59 AM
London, Oct 5 (ANI): A Hindu worker of British Airways (BA) VIP lounge, who was sacked from her job for wearing a tiny nose stud, has been told that she can continue wearing it at work.
Amrit Lalji (43) was devastated after she was dismissed for refusing to remove the nose stud. She said that wearing a nose stud was integral to her religious beliefs.
Lalji, who works for Eurest, which supplies food and services to BA’s VIP lounge at Heathrow, was reinstated on Thursday after appealing against the decision.
The company admitted that it had ‘misunderstood’ the rules, and said Lalji would be resuming work on Sunday.
Lalji, who is employed as a cleaner and customer relations’ worker said: “I had great support from the media, the union and my temple. It took me three months to get my job back, but I feel I should not have been put in that position in the first place.”
“They agreed that I could start work again and wear my nose pin because I do not work in a catering area. I am happy to get my job back,” she added.
“We have found that the rules relating to facial piercing are mandatory only in catering,” a spokesman for Eurest said.
“Since Lalji is not engaged in catering, her dismissal resulted from a misunderstanding of the rules and is therefore unjustified,” the Daily Mail quoted spokesman, as saying.
Hindu women usually have their nose pierced and fitted with a stud as part of the Shringar ritual when they marry. Lalji, is from Stanmore, North-West London, and has worn a stud for 25 years since her marriage to Devji, a 47-year-old carpenter. (ANI)
October 8th, 2007 at 10:43 am
I wish hindus would get more worked up about more important issues like poverty and curruption back in India.
I hope this women just takes her nose stud of and gets on with her job. The only hard and rigid rule for married hindu women to obey is not to dress provactively. This business with the nose stud is more a cultural thing.
October 8th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
firstly, what i do not understand is why are we making comments on the article and reading the article and doing nothing. If we are so interested about this women who cannot practice her faith by wearing a small stud which is hardly noticeble, then why are we not writting these letter to british airways instead. secondly, we give all our well wishes to her in the article and inspite of knowing that she and her family is going through financial problems, why are we not having some kind of fund raising events or activities or even donation. I dont see the point of writting any comments when we ourselves are sitting back on our asses and reading this article and simply saying ” OH WHAT A PITTY”…the reason why i am leaving this comment is to show everyone that there is no point is reading an article and writting ur comments like as if we were back in highschool and had to summarize an article with our thoughts. This makes no sence at all !!!!
October 8th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
lol at all the drama queens calling for a boycott citing ‘colonialism’ and racism……It wasnt so long ago when BA were across all of the national papers and news channels for suspending a WHITE, ENGLISH Christian lady for wearing a small cross pendant on her chain.
October 19th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Yes, this stupid B.A. management also banned a Christian for wearing a cross. How ridiculous, and how intimidating of them to do these things. it`s as if they know how stupid and tendentious it is and do it deliberately to cause a stir… Both the Hindu lady and the Christian have done nothing wrong. the management are the ones who should be sacked.
God help them if they ban a Muslim for any reason; but of course they wouldn`t dare…. the cowards.
October 20th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
what a drama, for nothing. As one reader comments- nose stud is more of a ritual than a religion , it is not a cumpulsion. I joined a course and was told to remove my nose stud. No problem. Go home and put it on again. My grandmother gave me one good advise - In Rome do as romans do.
October 20th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
“In Rome do as romans do”
Well the Romans are taking plenty of drugs and getting drunk everynight as well so shall we do that as well ?