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

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 ...