François Picard is pleased to welcome Anish Gawande. He sees the controversy surrounding the inauguration of the BAPS temple near Paris as more than an isolated dispute over the treatment of female staff at the Eiffel Tower. From his perspective, the incident exposes a broader and insufficiently scrutinized intersection of religion, diplomacy, political power, labor practices, and diaspora politics. At the center of his argument is an ambiguity over the boundary between private religious and state-sanctioned activity.
Gawande questions why senior Indian diplomatic representation and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks evoking India-France relations accompanied the inauguration if the ceremony was not official. He highlights Modi’s longstanding political association with BAPS, while also highlighting controversies and allegations surrounding the organization’s social, labour and political practices abroad.
Gawande challenges the notion that the new temple is solely representative of Hinduism in France, highlighting the country’s diverse Hindu traditions and Indian communities. He warns that the Eiffel Tower controversy may acquire a political life beyond BAPS itself, particularly if it becomes material for far-right narratives about immigrants, religion, and national identity in France. His central contention is therefore institutional as much as political: the controversy should prompt scrutiny of how the project was facilitated, how land was allocated, whether labour protections were respected, and where the boundaries between religious organizations and state power were drawn.
