Eiffel Tower-Hindu Group Row: What Is BAPS And Why Are Its Practices Under Scrutiny?

A defining aspect of Hinduism is its recognition of the divine in feminine form and the continued reverence of female manifestations of God. Hinduism is unique among the major world religions in having a longstanding tradition of worshipping the divine as female. Although social practices have often fallen short of the religion's ideals of gender equality and mutual respect, women have historically held, and continue to hold, some of the most highly regarded roles in Hindu spiritual leadership.

A controversy over a visit by the 100-member Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) delegation to Paris' Eiffel Tower has put the Hindu organisation's practices around gender separation under scrutiny. Female staff were reportedly asked to leave their workstations or limit their movement during the private visit, prompting protests and the temporary closure of the monument. While BAPS has denied seeking to exclude women and apologised for the inconvenience, the incident has revived questions about the religious practices followed by the organisation and its spiritual leaders.

What Happened At The Eiffel Tower During The BAPS Visit?

The Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors on Monday after staff protested allegations that female employees were sidelined during a private visit by a delegation from the Hindu organisation BAPS. Paris authorities have ordered an investigation into the incident, while BAPS said the visit was organised with the Eiffel Tower team to minimise disruption and denied that anyone had been prevented from accessing the monument.

Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said that the people’s discontent is legitimate. Staff union representative Diane Davoine told AP that women were moved aside when the delegation arrived.

SETE, the Eiffel Tower operator, acknowledged that arrangements had been requested to limit interactions with women and said such conditions should not have been accepted.

What Is BAPS And What Are Its Religious Practices?

BAPS was established in India in 1907 and started its international expansion in the 1960s. The spiritual organisation is involved in a range of community initiatives, including temple construction, disaster-relief efforts, medical camps, environmental campaigns and educational programmes.

BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha - which, according to its website, is a “socio-spiritual Hindu faith" with more than 1,300 temples, spread across North America, Europe, Africa, West Asia, India and the Asia-Pacific region - 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”. A delegation of the religious group is in France for the opening of the temple and has been touring sites across Paris.

BAPS is not formally affiliated with any political party in India and has consistently maintained that it is apolitical. However, researchers have highlighted what they describe as a close and cooperative relationship between BAPS, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party.

Interestingly, Modi spoke virtually on Sunday at the inauguration of the BAPS temple. MEA Spokesperson said that it was a common practice.

"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,” he noted.

"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," he said, referring to the closure of Eiffel Tower issue.

Its website says “No Alcohol, No Addictions, No Adultery, No Meat, No Impurity of body and mind are their five lifetime vows. Such pure morality and spirituality forms the foundation of the humanitarian services performed by BAPS.”

The organisation has also been the subject of several high-profile controversies.

One of the earliest major legal disputes involving BAPS came in 1966, when its leaders argued before the court that the sect constituted a religion separate from Hinduism. The argument was made in an effort to avoid the Bombay Harijan Temple Entry Act, which mandated that Hindu temples allow Dalits, a historically marginalised caste group, to enter. The Indian Supreme Court rejected the BAPS appeal.

In 2013, two former BAPS monks lodged a complaint alleging that senior leaders of the organisation had sexually assaulted them, with the alleged incidents dating back to the 1970s. BAPS leaders rejected the allegations. No criminal charges resulting from the complaint have been publicly reported, as per Al Jazeera.

BAPS was again at the centre of controversy in 2021, when a US federal class-action lawsuit accused the organisation of exploiting low-caste Indian labourers involved in the construction of its temples, as per Al Jazeera report. Filed on behalf of around 200 Indian workers, the lawsuit alleged that they had been brought from India, coerced into employment agreements and made to work more than 12 hours a day while receiving only five days off annually at a temple in Robbinsville Township, New Jersey.

According to the lawsuit, some workers were paid as little as $1.20 an hour, substantially below both the US federal minimum wage of $7.25 and New Jersey's statewide minimum wage of $12.

A US federal investigation into alleged labour trafficking at the Robbinsville temple was subsequently closed without any criminal charges being brought. However, the civil class-action lawsuit filed by the workers is still ongoing.

Why Has The Eiffel Tower Row Raised Questions About BAPS?

BAPS monks follow strict celibacy, including restrictions around interaction and physical contact with women. Wider BAPS community members are not subject to those same celibacy rules. Eiffel Tower incident became controversial as a religious practice applying to monks is one thing; allegedly asking employees of a public monument to change their workplace roles because they are women is a different issue.

The Eiffel Tower staff, in a statement issued by the CGT trade union, 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 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.