The Eiffel Tower was temporarily closed on Monday after workers went on strike to protest the sidelining of female staff during a private visit by a Hindu religious group.
The tower, which has since reopened, shut after members of Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a global socio‑spiritual Hindu denomination, visited the site. Female staff were reportedly asked to give way to male staff for the group’s tour, prompting protests from the workers’ union, outrage from French politicians and an apology from the Hindu group.
Here is more about BAPS and how the controversy unfolded.
What’s the controversy about?
The Eiffel Tower closed after staff walked out over the removal of women staff during a weekend visit by BAPS.
The Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, or SETE, which runs the Paris landmark, acknowledged that the group had requested the Saturday visit be organised in a way that limited “interactions with women”, and said “these conditions should not have been accepted”.
The BAPS monks, or sadhus, practise strict celibacy, which requires them to avoid physical contact with women and being alone in their company, and to minimise personal interaction or attention towards the opposite sex.
Wider community members of BAPS are not bound by these celibacy rules. According to news reports, the BAPS delegation visiting the Eiffel Tower comprised both monks and community members.
Eiffel Tower staff said in a statement that they condemned “professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex” during the visit by the delegation.
“Some were asked to leave their posts and withdraw to other areas. In some posts they were replaced by men. And all female employees were instructed not to go through or cross certain areas while the delegation was present,” the staff union said, adding they were shocked to have been put in such a situation.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said an investigation would be launched “as soon as possible”. In a post on social media, he said he was aware of the employees’ anger and agreed their dissatisfaction was legitimate.
What is BAPS and how have they responded?
BAPS was founded in India in ۱۹۰۷ and began expanding internationally from the ۱۹۶۰s. It is a spiritual organisation which works on community building, constructing temples, helping with disaster relief and running medical camps, environmental drives and educational programmes.
It now also runs an extensive network of temples and cultural centres across the world, including more than ۱۰۰ in the United States and more than ۱,۰۰۰ worldwide, including across Europe, Africa and Asia. BAPS also runs a temple in Paris.
On Tuesday, the BAPS Paris account posted a statement on X responding to the controversy.
“To our knowledge, at no time was access to the Eiffel Tower denied to anyone,” the account wrote, originally in French.
“Nevertheless, we wish to offer our sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or inconvenienced by this situation,” it added.
How has the response in France been?
Leaders within France expressed outrage over reports of women being removed from the premises.
Aurore Berge, the minister delegate for gender equality and fight against discrimination in France, wrote in an X post on Monday: “In France, we do not ask women to step aside. No dogma, no religion is superior to the laws of the Republic.”
Yael Braun-Pivet, president of the National Assembly, wrote in a post on social media: “Welcoming others never means giving up our values. In France, women are fully present in public life. No one tells them to become invisible.”
Former French President Francois Hollande, now an MP, wrote on X on Tuesday: “We do not ask women to step aside to satisfy religious demands.”
He expressed support for the Eiffel Tower staff who walked out.
“Equality between women and men is a fundamental achievement of our Republic. It applies everywhere, to all women and all men, without exception,” Hollande wrote.
Parliamentarian and former PM Michel Barnier wrote on X: “It is therefore utterly unacceptable that an order aimed at making women disappear from this space could have been issued.”
Barnier added that “women are not hidden. They are not erased. They are respected, and their freedom is defended”, demanding an explanation from the SETE.
Jordan Bardella, the president of the far-right National Rally, wrote on X on Tuesday: “This degrading demand should never have been met. In a free country like France, gender equality is respected, and no religious reason can override women’s dignity.”
Prominent far-right MP and leader of the National Rally (RN), Marine Le Pen wrote in an X post: “In France, we will never accept that the presence of women be ‘limited.’”
Is BAPS linked to the Modi government?
BAPS is not officially part of a political party in India, and has long insisted that it is apolitical.
But researchers have long pointed to a close, cooperative relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
In fact, the Eiffel Tower closure came just a day after Modi virtually inaugurated the BAPS temple in Paris.
Modi also attended the physical inauguration of the BAPS temple in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in ۲۰۲۴.
Has BAPS faced other controversies in the past?
BAPS has faced a series of high-profile controversies in the past.
During a landmark legal battle in ۱۹۶۶, BAPS leaders argued in court that their sect was not part of Hinduism but a distinct religion. They did so in an attempt to avoid the Bombay Harijan Temple Entry Act, which required Hindu temples to open their doors to Dalits, a historically marginalised caste group. The Indian Supreme Court rejected the appeal made by BAPS.
In ۲۰۱۳, two former BAPS monks filed a complaint accusing senior BAPS leaders of sexual assault dating back to the ۱۹۷۰s. BAPS leaders denied the allegations. The complaint did not result in any publicly reported criminal charges.
In ۲۰۲۱, a US federal class‑action lawsuit accused BAPS of exploiting low‑caste labourers from India to work on its temples. The case, brought on behalf of about ۲۰۰ Indian workers, alleged they were lured from India, coerced into employment agreements, and forced to work more than ۱۲ hours a day with only five days off a year at a temple in Robbinsville Township, New Jersey.
The suit says they were paid as little as $۱.۲۰ an hour, far below the US federal minimum wage of $۷.۲۵ and New Jersey’s $۱۲ statewide minimum.
A US federal investigation into labour trafficking at the Robbinsville temple has since been closed without criminal charges, but the civil class‑action lawsuit brought by the workers continues.
