BAPS and its celibate monks: The organisation at the centre of the Eiffel Tower row

A Hindu religious organisation has come under fire in Paris, France after female employees at the Eiffel Tower were allegedly asked to move away or make themselves “invisible” during a private visit by its delegation. This prompted staff to strike and force the iconic landmark to close on September 7.

The delegation, comprising around 100 people, was from the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, a Hindu religious organisation with roots in Gujarat and a large global following. French authorities are investigating the incident after employees said they were instructed to make themselves “invisible” while the delegation passed through the landmark.

BAPS is a denomination within the Swaminarayan tradition of Hinduism. A Hindu group with several branches in the UK and US it gets millions in donations and grants every year.  

Recently, the massive BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Paris was inaugurated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the inauguration through a video message and described the temple as a milestone in India-France cultural relations. He said the teachings and “Indian cultural” message emerging from the temple would benefit people across Europe.

The organisation has apologised for the controversy but said that, to its knowledge, no one was prevented from accessing the Eiffel Tower. It said the visit was organised with the tower’s management because of the size of the delegation and was scheduled at the beginning of normal opening hours to minimise disruption to other visitors.

So, what exactly is BAPS, why do their monks have strict celibacy vows that prevent interaction with women, and what kind of relationship do they share with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi?

What is BAPS?

The wider Swaminarayan tradition emerged in Gujarat in the late 18th and early 19th centuries around Sahajanand Swami, known as Bhagwan Swaminarayan. BAPS traces its formal establishment to 1907, when Shastriji Maharaj, one of Swaminarayan’s spiritual successors, established a temple in Bochasan, Gujarat. The organisation takes its name from the town and its central theological idea, the Akshar-Purushottam philosophy.

BAPS describes itself as a “socio-spiritual Hindu faith” rooted in the Vedas. According to BAPS, it currently has more than 5,000 centres globally and more than a million followers.

Its most visible presence is perhaps its temples. BAPS has built large, intricately carved Swaminarayan temples in India and in countries including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Kenya and the UAE.

The organisation’s latest major project is the temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges, near Paris, which BAPS describes as the first traditional Hindu temple in France. Its inauguration was part of a 13-day Festival of Culture held in September.

BAPS is not formally part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or the Sangh Parivar, but the organisation has worked alongside several groups associated with the wider Hindu nationalist network, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Sewa Bharati.

One example is the relief and rehabilitation work that followed the devastating Gujarat earthquake of January 2001, says Malini Bhattacharjee in her book Disaster Relief and the RSS: Resurrecting 'Religion' Through Humanitarianism. Accounts of the relief effort describe close cooperation between Sewa Bharati and several Hindu organisations, including BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, the VHP, the Ramakrishna Mission and the Mata Amritanandamayi Math.

According to accounts cited in the book about the Sangh Parivar’s relief work, Sewa Bharati said the district collector sought its assistance with the cremation of bodies soon after the earthquake, while Air Force authorities cooperated with the organisation to transport injured people to Mumbai and Pune for treatment. BAPS and other Hindu organisations also participated in fundraising and relief efforts.

Why is BAPS closely associated with PM Narendra Modi?

PM Modi’s association with BAPS goes back several decades, before he became Prime Minister.

Modi has spoken publicly about meeting Pramukh Swami Maharaj, one of BAPS’s most influential spiritual leaders, in 1981. He has described his relationship with Pramukh Swami as being similar to that of a father and son and has repeatedly spoken about the influence of the spiritual leader on his life.

As Prime Minister, Modi has also repeatedly participated in BAPS temple projects overseas. He launched the project for the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi in 2018 and inaugurated the completed temple in 2024.

His involvement has continued with BAPS’s Paris temple. On September 6, he addressed the inauguration through video conference and said the temple represented a new milestone in India-France cultural relations. He also said he hoped to visit the temple in person in the future.

BAPS has also worked with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on occasions, including after Gujarat earthquakes in 2001.

Why does BAPS have such strict rules around women?

The controversy at the Eiffel Tower cannot be understood without looking at one of the strictest rules governing BAPS sadhus, or monks: celibacy.

BAPS says its sadhus follow nishkam dharma, or a discipline of complete celibacy. This is not limited to abstaining from sexual relationships. According to BAPS’s own account of the rules, a sadhu is expected not to talk to, touch or associate with women. The organisation describes this as an eight-fold form of celibacy prescribed by Bhagwan Swaminarayan for his sadhus.

BAPS says the purpose of these restrictions is spiritual discipline rather than discrimination against women. Its literature argues that avoiding contact with women helps sadhus control their desires and remain focused on their religious practice. The organisation also points to its separate women's wing, which runs activities and centres for female devotees.

The strictest restrictions apply to sadhus, not to all BAPS followers. BAPS has separate religious and social activities for men and women, and women can participate as devotees.

The gender separation has nevertheless been a subject of criticism. The broader Swaminarayan tradition has historically maintained separate spaces and practices for male and female devotees, particularly around interactions with sadhus. BAPS itself describes instances in which its spiritual leaders avoided giving darshan specifically to women because of their celibacy vows. In one account published by BAPS, Pramukh Swami Maharaj returned to his room when he was asked to give darshan to women devotees, saying this would violate his vow.

What exactly happened at the Eiffel Tower?

According to French reports, BAPS requested that its private visit be organised in a manner that limited interactions between members of the delegation and women working at the Eiffel Tower.

Employees said female staff were asked to leave their workstations or move to other areas while the delegation passed. In some places, they were allegedly replaced by male employees.

The Eiffel Tower’s operating company, SETE, has said it will investigate what happened. Staff subsequently walked out, resulting in the landmark being closed on Monday.

French political leaders across the political spectrum have criticised the reported treatment of women. Paris officials have called for the incident to be investigated, with politicians stressing that equality between women and men is a fundamental principle in France.

BAPS, meanwhile, has apologised to anyone who was “hurt or inconvenienced” but has not accepted the characterisation that women were deliberately excluded. It said the visit was coordinated with Eiffel Tower staff because of the size of the delegation.

Has BAPS faced controversy before?

Yes. One of the most serious controversies involving BAPS concerns the construction of its massive temple complex in Robbinsville, New Jersey.

In 2021, six Dalit workers from Rajasthan filed a lawsuit in a US federal court against BAPS and several associated entities and individuals. The workers alleged that they and nearly 200 other Indian workers had been recruited in India to work on the temple but were brought to the US on religious visas and then subjected to forced labour and severe working conditions. The lawsuit alleged that workers’ passports were confiscated, that they were paid low wages and made to work extremely long hours.

The allegations also included caste-based abuse and restrictions on the workers’ movement. The workers alleged that they lived in crowded conditions and were discouraged from interacting with outsiders.

BAPS had disputed the allegations and rejected claims that it was responsible for the labour violations. The case also became the subject of a wider dispute over whether responsibility lay with BAPS or a US construction contractor.

BAPS temples have also become targets amid tensions surrounding the Khalistan movement in the Indian diaspora. BAPS temples have been subjected to vandalisations allegedly by pro-Khalistani groups, in Canada and the US.

BAPS's history also intersects with a significant legal question about caste and temple access.

In 1966, the Supreme Court of India heard a case involving followers of the Swaminarayan sect who argued that their religion was distinct from Hinduism and that legislation requiring Hindu temples to permit entry to members of Scheduled Castes should therefore not apply to their temples.

The Supreme Court rejected that argument. It held that the Swaminarayan sect was not a religion separate from Hinduism and that its temples came within the relevant legislation governing entry into Hindu places of public worship. The judgment also upheld the principle that Dalits could not be excluded from temple entry.

This report was first published by The News Minute. Become a joint subscriber here.