Eiffel Tower row over Hindu sect BAPS unites French politicians – but divides Indian diaspora

Eiffel Tower row over Hindu sect BAPS unites French politicians – but divides Indian diaspora France got a crash course on the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a Hindu sect at the heart of an Eiffel Tower strike this week. But for Indians in France who have been trying to raise awareness of far-right Hindu groups, the awareness comes too late. As the 2027 election campaign goes into high gear, some fear the issue will be politicised by the French far right. On Saturday, September 5, as members of a Hindu sect were set to make a splash visit to the Eiffel Tower, an organisation of progressive Indians living in France held a public meeting in Paris to shed some light on the religious group and the international spread of Hindu nationalism, which has been turbocharged during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure. The French press was invited to the event organised by the Indian Alliance Paris (IAP) and co-hosted by three other organisations, including France’s CGT union. Speakers at the public meeting included activists and researchers from France, as well as the US and India, who joined via video link. They focused on the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a sect that it set to open a large new temple in a Paris suburb. Issues were raised and addressed, a documentary was screened, and a press statement was released after the event. But there was not much coverage in the French press of a weekend meeting held by one of many diaspora groups in Paris. That changed on Monday, when the Eiffel Tower was closed after staff went on strike over female workers being removed and replaced by men during a private tour by a BAPS delegation of the Paris landmark. Read moreEiffel Tower closes due to strike over exclusion of female staff Suddenly, BAPS and its giant temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges, an eastern suburb located between the French capital and Disneyland Paris, was all over the news. Audiences got a crash course on a sect practicing a “very conservative form of Hinduism” with “close links” to the Modi administration. Watch more‘Was this a state visit?’ Indian opposition leader raises serious questions over Paris BAPS temple “We tried to highlight this issue. We tried to tell them that these people are very conservative and they are very misogynistic. But it didn’t really come into the spotlight,” said IAP secretary Joy Banerjee, listing the many ways his organisation attempted to reach out to left-leaning French political parties and raise awareness of the BAPS agenda. “Suddenly, the mask was dropped on Monday because of the strike.” The Eiffel Tower reopened to the public on Tuesday. BAPS released a statement noting that, “To our knowledge, at no time was access to the Eiffel Tower denied to anyone. Nevertheless, we sincerely apologise for any pain or inconvenience caused.” To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. By then, every French politician worth their salt – and with an eye on the 2027 election – had commented on the fracas. Socialist Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire promised an investigation. Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France Paris metropolitan area and member of the conservative Les Républicains party, expressed her “shock” on X. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen also got into the act, noting that, “In France, we will never accept that the presence of women be limited." Just days after many diaspora Indians in France opposed to Modi’s policies got together to raise awareness of BAPS, some were worried about a French far-right, anti-immigrant backlash. On Tuesday morning, the IAP took to X to warn that, “the Eiffel Tower story must not become fodder for more racism,” adding, “BAPS does not represent all Hindus and it certainly does not represent India.” To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. It was not the first time a progressive diaspora group in the West has tried to raise awareness of the inroads far-right ideologies from their homeland were making in their new countries. Many of them have spent months and years watching as Western leaders, driven by economic or geopolitical interests, ignore their warnings and lay out the red carpet for nationalist demagogues without raising human rights concerns. Now, as the far right extends its reach across Western Europe, many fear the awareness amounts to too little, too late. From village temple to global network Founded in 1907 with the consecration of a mandir, or temple, in the village of Bochasan in the western Indian region of Gujarat, BAPS is a denomination of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, a Vaishnavite sect of Hinduism. From a little-known village temple, BAPS has grown into a global organisation that manages more than 1,300 temples and more than 5,025 centres across India, North America, Europe, West Asia, Africa and Australia. The BAPS temple on the outskirts of Paris – believed to be the biggest in Europe built in the traditional style – was inaugurated on Sunday with a video message delivered by the Indian prime minister. The private Eiffel Tower visit was part of the events from September 3-14 marking the opening of the BAPS temple, billed as a 13-day “festival of culture” that included a procession of boats gliding down the Seine River last week. In his inauguration address, Modi hailed the temple was as a symbol of bilateral cooperation. "A magnificent temple stands ready today in France and it will not only enrich France's diversity but also energise the cultural relations between India and France," he said. Under the Modi administration, the construction of temples has been a potent emblem of Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism, propagated by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a vast volunteer paramilitary group founded nearly a century ago. The RSS is an umbrella organisation that includes trade unions, youth groups, prayer associations and women’s groups that are collectively known as the “Sangh Parivar”, or Sangh Family. In addition to the Sangh Parivar, there are also several Hindu right-wing groups and independent actors that follow and spread the Hindutva ideology without formal RSS connections, enabling BJP administrations to maintain plausible deniability when necessary. “Since Modi came to power, when many BJP politicians do their world tours, they often stop and do a photo-op at a BAPS temple somewhere in the world. So somehow BAPS, even though it isn't traditionally considered part of the Sangh Parivar as such, has become an institution that has very openly been a place for the Indian government to kind of show off because these temples tend to be very big and opulent,” said Sunita Viswanath, co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights, a US-based NGO advocating for pluralism and social justice from a Hindu faith perspective. On Saturday, for instance, as the IAP was holding its public awareness meeting in Paris, RSS Supreme Leader Mohan Bhagwat was visiting a BAPS temple in London’s Willesden area. Bhagwat was in London after a visit to the US, where he was the keynote speaker at a jam-packed event at New York’s Madison Square Garden. It was followed by a stop in Canada, where he addressed a major gathering in Toronto. At a media briefing in New Delhi on Tuesday, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was asked about the Eiffel Tower incident. “We are aware of the opening of the temple of BAPS in Paris. As to the particular issue, this is a matter purely between the entities concerned,” he said. When asked whether India was now distancing itself even though Modi had participated in the inauguration, Jaiswal stated, “It is a common practice for [the] prime minister to convey his good wishes on such occasions. In this case it was done virtually. There is no cause for any comment in this regard.” Controversy in the US The Eiffel Tower incident is not the first controversy BAPS has faced abroad. In May 2021, following an FBI raid on a BAPS temple construction site in Robbinsville, New Jersey, six Indian stone workers filed a lawsuit alleging that the sect “weaponised India’s caste system” by coercing men, mostly Dalits from the lowest rungs in India’s social hierarchy, to work under “abysmal” conditions. Following reports by the New York Times detailing forced labour allegations, the lawsuit was later expanded to include BAPS temple construction sites across the US. In September 2025, months after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the US Department of Justice closed the case without providing a cause. BAPS North America welcomed the move, noting in a statement that the US government’s “decision to end this investigation sends a clear and powerful message” that their temple is “a place of peace, service, and devotion”. ‘Strategic partnership’ obscures scrutiny Critics however say organisations promoting Hindutva overseas attempt to mobilise Hindu communities abroad to provide support to the RSS and BJP. Indian researchers, activists and journalists in the diaspora critical of Hindutva project face trolls, threats and accusations of promoting "Hinduphobia". In their press statement following Saturday’s public event, the IAP noted that Hindutva groups overseas “also present a deceptive face of their politics by coating it in the language of multiculturalism and pluralism in order to broaden their appeal”. Given the controversies and numerous reports of work conditions at BAPS temple sites, diaspora Indians opposed to far-right Hindu nationalism say they are surprised the sect got the green light from French authorities for the Paris temple project. Viswanath, whose US-based NGO has closely monitored the BAPS case in New Jersey, said she was particularly dismayed by French authorities. “The case [in New Jersey] was only dismissed because we have Trump in power. Of course, he's going to dismiss this case. But France, I would think, would be different, since it’s not being run by a far right-wing party. I would think there are different ethical standards,” she said. In 2023, when Modi made high-profile visits to the US and France, Viswanath was one among many activists calling on the Biden and Macron administrations to raise human rights issues. Their calls fell on deaf ears in Washington and Paris. Three years later, the co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights says she is not surprised by the BPS controversy in France. “It's not a surprise, but it’s certainly very disappointing that they weren't paying attention,” she said. Read moreArms, not democratic values, on parade as Macron hosts India’s Modi on Bastille Day BAPS has a history of controversies over its gender policies. At a 2024 event in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, women seated in the front rows of a gathering of chartered accountants were asked to move away before a speech by a religious leader affiliated with BAPS. During BAPS religious ceremonies, the “enforcement of strict separation of men and women” has been described as one of the “distinctive features” of the sect, reported the Indian Express, quoting an academic study. Given its history, Banerjee is particularly irked about conservative French politician Pécresse’s posts denouncing the gender discrimination at the Eiffel Tower. “She's the president of Île-de-France. She didn't inquire about BAPS?” he asked incredulously. Pécresse, who presided over the temple’s inauguration in Bussy-Saint-Georges on Sunday, stated that the BAPS temple was part of the “strategic partnership” between India and France. “Have French authorities, at all levels, naively or deliberately turned a blind eye to the promoters of this temple construction project?” questioned an IAP statement released Tuesday. “The French political parties, even the left parties, have not been very interested,” said Banerjee, admitting that economic interests, such as the sale of French Rafale fighter jets to India, enables politicians to celebrate “cultural exchanges” without careful scrutiny. The one-day Eiffel Tower strike may usher in a change at long last, Banerjee says. “What is happening now is very interesting," he said. "Maybe they understand that they made some mistake rolling out the red carpet to this organisation which is really linked to the Hindutva programme.”