Eiffel Tower row exposes BAPS Hindu group as 'spearhead of Modi's soft power'
A row over the treatment of female staff at the Eiffel Tower has put a Hindu movement at the centre of a controversy in France. An India specialist told RFI that BAPS, which has close ties to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has become an important vehicle for his soft-power diplomacy abroad.
Issued on: 10/09/2026 - RFI
The new BAPS Hindu temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges, near Paris, which opened on 6 September 2026. © Nicolas Feldmann / RFI
The controversy began after around 100 people linked to BAPS – the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha – made a private visit to the Eiffel Tower on Saturday.
Female employees were asked to leave their workstations as the delegation passed so that men could take their places, a staff representative said. Employees protested on Monday, temporarily closing the monument.
Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire announced an investigation, and the Eiffel Tower reopened on Tuesday.
BAPS denied making a gender-based request and apologised for any hurt or inconvenience caused.
The visit came a day before BAPS inaugurated a large new temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges, east of Paris. Modi joined the inauguration by video link.
The movement has a relatively small following within Hinduism but a large international network, particularly among the Gujarati diaspora – people from the western Indian state of Gujarat.
India specialist Christophe Jaffrelot, a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), told RFI about BAPS's growing role in Modi's push to project Indian influence abroad.
RFI: BAPS is accused of promoting an ultra-conservative vision of society. Where does the movement come from and what does it represent today?
Christophe Jaffrelot: It is first and foremost an organisation from Gujarat, where it was founded in the early 20th century and which remains its stronghold. In India, there are very few BAPS temples outside Gujarat. There is one in New Delhi, the capital, which serves somewhat as a showcase, but that's about it.
However, Gujaratis have spread around the world and make up the largest Indian diaspora, so there are BAPS temples everywhere – from southern Africa to Canada, as well as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. That is where you find the major BAPS temples.
In terms of numbers, BAPS represents relatively few people. The vast majority of Hindus do not follow the movement. But its closeness to India's political elite makes all the difference today. Its followers may not be very numerous, but they are highly influential.
RFI: Does BAPS's conservative vision of society align with Modi's Hindu nationalism?
CJ: Modi, who comes from Gujarat, has had close relations with BAPS for 40 years. BAPS priests endorsed and legitimised him when he came to power in 2014. Modi subsequently defended and protected them.
When the 2001 earthquake destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes in Gujarat, he became the state's chief minister and relied on the movement for reconstruction. BAPS is very wealthy and rebuilt in its own way, putting its temples at the centre of villages and ensuring that Dalits, formerly known as “untouchables”, and Muslims were excluded.
It is a mutually beneficial relationship. Modi receives religious blessing and legitimacy, while these religious figures strengthen their position in Gujarati society thanks to his support.
Modi has used this movement as a representative of Hinduism for his soft-power policy. BAPS is the spearhead of that policy, which is why he personally inaugurates BAPS temples around the world. Modi travelled to Abu Dhabi to do so in 2024. For the French temple, he participated by video link, but he still took part.
The controversy began after around 100 people linked to BAPS – the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha – made a private visit to the Eiffel Tower on Saturday.
Female employees were asked to leave their workstations as the delegation passed so that men could take their places, a staff representative said. Employees protested on Monday, temporarily closing the monument.
Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire announced an investigation, and the Eiffel Tower reopened on Tuesday.
BAPS denied making a gender-based request and apologised for any hurt or inconvenience caused.
The visit came a day before BAPS inaugurated a large new temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges, east of Paris. Modi joined the inauguration by video link.
The movement has a relatively small following within Hinduism but a large international network, particularly among the Gujarati diaspora – people from the western Indian state of Gujarat.
India specialist Christophe Jaffrelot, a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), told RFI about BAPS's growing role in Modi's push to project Indian influence abroad.
RFI: BAPS is accused of promoting an ultra-conservative vision of society. Where does the movement come from and what does it represent today?
Christophe Jaffrelot: It is first and foremost an organisation from Gujarat, where it was founded in the early 20th century and which remains its stronghold. In India, there are very few BAPS temples outside Gujarat. There is one in New Delhi, the capital, which serves somewhat as a showcase, but that's about it.
However, Gujaratis have spread around the world and make up the largest Indian diaspora, so there are BAPS temples everywhere – from southern Africa to Canada, as well as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. That is where you find the major BAPS temples.
In terms of numbers, BAPS represents relatively few people. The vast majority of Hindus do not follow the movement. But its closeness to India's political elite makes all the difference today. Its followers may not be very numerous, but they are highly influential.
RFI: Does BAPS's conservative vision of society align with Modi's Hindu nationalism?
CJ: Modi, who comes from Gujarat, has had close relations with BAPS for 40 years. BAPS priests endorsed and legitimised him when he came to power in 2014. Modi subsequently defended and protected them.
When the 2001 earthquake destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes in Gujarat, he became the state's chief minister and relied on the movement for reconstruction. BAPS is very wealthy and rebuilt in its own way, putting its temples at the centre of villages and ensuring that Dalits, formerly known as “untouchables”, and Muslims were excluded.
It is a mutually beneficial relationship. Modi receives religious blessing and legitimacy, while these religious figures strengthen their position in Gujarati society thanks to his support.
Modi has used this movement as a representative of Hinduism for his soft-power policy. BAPS is the spearhead of that policy, which is why he personally inaugurates BAPS temples around the world. Modi travelled to Abu Dhabi to do so in 2024. For the French temple, he participated by video link, but he still took part.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, centre, after inaugurating the first BAPS Hindu temple in the Middle East, at Abu Mureikha, 40 kilometres north-east of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, on 14 February 2024. © Kamran Jebreili / AP
There is a kind of promotion of Gujarat as a nation of Hinduism, particularly among the diaspora, backed by the Indian state. We also saw the very strong involvement of the Indian embassy in Paris in the Bussy-Saint-Georges temple. It followed the construction work throughout. India's ambassador to Unesco, who is also based in Paris, was involved at every stage of the project.
So we have a community that is small in demographic terms but politically influential, and that can be seen through India's international activities.
RFI: Mixing religion and politics is nothing new in India, particularly with Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. Can BAPS also be considered a political weapon?
CJ: It aims to be a political weapon in terms of influence. We have seen this more dramatically elsewhere, in the UK and the US. BAPS temples are places where American and British government officials are invited. King Charles III himself was invited six months ago to the largest temple in England, north of London.
It is a way of showing political elites in host countries that Hinduism has a form of soft power, that it represents a civilisation that should be recognised and cultivated. That is what BAPS is seeking above all.
Why was such a huge temple needed in Paris, where there are so few Hindus? Because it is a symbol. It shows that even there, Hinduism can plant a kind of flag. And why go to the Eiffel Tower, which has nothing to do with religion? Precisely because it is a symbol – a trophy to be won.
So it is effectively a kind of armed wing of a policy of cultural and civilisational expansion. Both the Indian government and BAPS talk constantly about Hindu civilisation.
RFI: The Eiffel Tower incident appears to have caused some embarrassment for BAPS and the Indian government. What impact could it have?
CJ: In India, it has received a lot of attention among the few remaining independent media outlets. It has attracted considerable attention within what is still a limited ecosystem. But the major Indian newspapers have also reported the incident, as have online media. It will not go any further than that in India.
The problem is more significant internationally. This affair has received considerable attention in the UK, in Germany, where temples are being built, and in Australia.
Everywhere, there is growing unease over this diaspora, which does not integrate, which increasingly seeks to assert the superiority of Hinduism as a civilisation, which rejects regulations concerning caste discrimination and which also opposes realistic descriptions of India in history or social science textbooks.
So tensions are growing. And this affair has received even greater media attention in countries with large Hindu diasporas where that unease is mounting.
RFI: In the UK, which has a large Indian community, could BAPS pose a threat to society similar to that associated with political Islam in the 2000s?
CJ: Yes. The British were shocked when riots between Hindus and Muslims broke out in the English city of Leicester in 2022 following a cricket match between India and Pakistan. At that point, it became clear that on both sides – among the Muslim minority and the Hindu minority – people were organising and arming themselves, and investigations are still underway.
This is where influence plays an essential role. The Hindu nationalist movement has acquired such influence over British political power that the investigations are making little progress. And that is one of the major issues in all these cases – how far can this movement neutralise the rule of law?
It is one of the major issues France should pay attention to, because the question arises here too. How was the construction of a temple of this kind authorised in the country of laïcité, the French principle of secularism? What kind of chain of command are we dealing with?
RFI: Given their economic and strategic ties with India, how difficult is it for countries to confront BAPS directly? How should France and other countries respond?
CJ: We need to protect ourselves against this kind of attempt to gain influence from within and apply French laws, which require the separation of religion and politics. In French society, religion belongs in the private sphere. With the construction of this temple, we therefore find ourselves in a fairly unprecedented situation, with political figures approving a religious operation conducted by a foreign state.
Perhaps an investigation should have been carried out beforehand. It is common knowledge that BAPS priests cannot associate with women. That is the rule. So the fact that this issue emerged through an incident at the Eiffel Tower and created the problem we now know about nevertheless reflects a lack of preparation.
There is another issue that explains the size of the temple near Paris – its proximity to Disneyland. The objective is fairly clear. When Indian tourists visit Europe and can afford it, they generally make a point of going to Disneyland. Well, now they will also make a detour to the Bussy-Saint-Georges temple.
RFI: Is BAPS and its vision gaining ground in India and abroad?
CJ: Yes, it is a movement that is gaining momentum because it is very close to those in power in India. One example illustrates this. In 2024, Modi inaugurated a Hindu temple in Ayodhya, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, built on the ruins of a mosque that Hindu nationalists destroyed in 1992.
The architectural model for this temple is that of the BAPS movement. The Narayan [BAPS] model is becoming, in a sense, the standard that embodies Hinduism.
BAPS is seeking to position itself as the representative of Hinduism, even though it is a very small strand of the religion. It wants to become the reference point. You can see this nationally in India.
Internationally, it is clearly expanding as Gujaratis gain social and economic influence in different countries. One example among many is that American motel chains are principally controlled by Gujaratis who, in large part, are members of BAPS.
This article is based on an interview in French by Christophe Drevet.
Internal inquiry opened after Eiffel Tower 'sexist' closure prompts strike
The Eiffel Tower reopened on Tuesday after staff walked out over the removal of women colleagues during a visit by a Hindu religious group which later apologised. The operating company has acknowledged it was wrong to accept the conditions and has opened an internal investigation.
Issued on: 08/09/2026 - RFI
The Eiffel Tower reopened on Tuesday after staff walked out over the removal of women colleagues during a visit by a Hindu religious group which later apologised. The operating company has acknowledged it was wrong to accept the conditions and has opened an internal investigation.
Issued on: 08/09/2026 - RFI
Cover image: Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu monks take part in a religious ceremony in front of the Eiffel Tower before a ceremonial river parade on the river Seine in Paris on 3 September 2026.
AFP - KENZO TRIBOUILLARD
The operating company that runs the Paris landmark, SETE, acknowledged that the Hindu delegation had requested the visit on Saturday be organised so as to limit "interactions with women" but said afterwards that "these conditions should not have been accepted".
SETE president Ariel Weil, who is also an elected official in Paris, told public broadcaster Francinfo on Tuesday that the incident, which occured on Saturday, was "totally shocking and unacceptable".
Weil maintains he was unaware of the instructions issued by the group of Hindu visitors.
"Some overly zealous operational managers apparently took it upon themselves to strictly enforce these guidelines, failing to exercise the judgment needed to recognise that they were inappropriate," he explained.
The results of an internal investigation would be known "in the coming days," he told French news agency AFP.
"We are going to shed light on what happened, and we will draw the necessary conclusions," he said.
The Eiffel Tower, which says it receives nearly seven million people a year, was closed on Monday, when SETE said it held a meeting between striking staff and management.
It reopened on Tuesday morning.
The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) spiritual movement apologised for "any pain or inconvenience caused" by the incident.
"To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower," the organisation wrote on social media platform X.
"Due to the size of our delegation, the visit was arranged in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal operating hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others."
Eiffel Tower staff condemned "professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex" during the visit by the delegation.
The operating company that runs the Paris landmark, SETE, acknowledged that the Hindu delegation had requested the visit on Saturday be organised so as to limit "interactions with women" but said afterwards that "these conditions should not have been accepted".
SETE president Ariel Weil, who is also an elected official in Paris, told public broadcaster Francinfo on Tuesday that the incident, which occured on Saturday, was "totally shocking and unacceptable".
Weil maintains he was unaware of the instructions issued by the group of Hindu visitors.
"Some overly zealous operational managers apparently took it upon themselves to strictly enforce these guidelines, failing to exercise the judgment needed to recognise that they were inappropriate," he explained.
The results of an internal investigation would be known "in the coming days," he told French news agency AFP.
"We are going to shed light on what happened, and we will draw the necessary conclusions," he said.
The Eiffel Tower, which says it receives nearly seven million people a year, was closed on Monday, when SETE said it held a meeting between striking staff and management.
It reopened on Tuesday morning.
The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) spiritual movement apologised for "any pain or inconvenience caused" by the incident.
"To the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower," the organisation wrote on social media platform X.
"Due to the size of our delegation, the visit was arranged in conjunction with the Eiffel Tower team at the start of normal operating hours to avoid disrupting or inconveniencing others."
Eiffel Tower staff condemned "professional instructions that led to female employees being sidelined, replaced and made invisible because of their sex" during the visit by the delegation.
Female employees made invisible
"Instructions were given to female employees of the Eiffel Tower and to female employees of contractors to make themselves invisible in order to welcome this delegation," the staff said in a statement, adding they were shocked to have been put in such a situation.
"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."
BAPS, which is close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling conservative Hindu nationalist party, opened its first major temple in France on Sunday, near Paris.
BAPS spiritual leader Mahant Swami Maharaj, 93, consecrated it himself.
The BAPS organisation claims a worldwide network of more than 1,300 temples, some of which have been inaugurated by Modi himself.
France's gender equality minister Aurore Bergé voiced indignation after the Eiffel Tower incident.
"In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves," she said.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the exclusion of female workers was "unacceptable" and contrary to the "values that the Eiffel Tower stands for".
Candidates in next year's presidential election also weighed in.
Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen also criticised the incident, saying France would "never accept that women's presence be 'limited'".
Gabriel Attal, a centrist rival to become head of state, said: "In France, no culture, no belief, no religion, nothing and no one can come and dictate to women what their place should be."
(with AFP)
"Instructions were given to female employees of the Eiffel Tower and to female employees of contractors to make themselves invisible in order to welcome this delegation," the staff said in a statement, adding they were shocked to have been put in such a situation.
"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."
BAPS, which is close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling conservative Hindu nationalist party, opened its first major temple in France on Sunday, near Paris.
BAPS spiritual leader Mahant Swami Maharaj, 93, consecrated it himself.
The BAPS organisation claims a worldwide network of more than 1,300 temples, some of which have been inaugurated by Modi himself.
France's gender equality minister Aurore Bergé voiced indignation after the Eiffel Tower incident.
"In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves," she said.
Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the exclusion of female workers was "unacceptable" and contrary to the "values that the Eiffel Tower stands for".
Candidates in next year's presidential election also weighed in.
Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen also criticised the incident, saying France would "never accept that women's presence be 'limited'".
Gabriel Attal, a centrist rival to become head of state, said: "In France, no culture, no belief, no religion, nothing and no one can come and dictate to women what their place should be."
(with AFP)
How a former BAPS temple worker in the US got his freedom, but still seeks justice
The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu sect at the heart of the Eiffel Tower strike made headlines in France during the inauguration of its latest temple near Paris. In the US, BAPS came under the spotlight when Indian stone workers were rescued from a temple construction site. One former worker recounts his journey and fight for justice.
Issued on: 10/09/2026
FRANCE24
By: Leela JACINTO
‘Just stones, stones, stones’
Rajeev’s American nightmare began shortly after he arrived at a massive BAPS temple construction site in Robbinsville, New Jersey.
“First, they took our passports. Then they told us that if we ever try to go out of the compound, and if we get in trouble, without our passports the police will take us away and put us in prison,” he said in Hindi during a phone interview from the US.
The temple site, though, was a “central prison” for the workers, said Rajeev, using the term in English. “The life in America looked very nice. But not for us. Our work was within the temple, no going out, no talking to people. We had no freedom – only do the stonework, just stones, stones, stones.”
The state of Rajasthan is renowned for its skilled stone carvers. Its sandstone hills in varying shades of ochre ranging from salmon pink to deep red provide colour and grace to some of India’s most iconic landmarks. The capital, Jaipur, also called “the Pink City”, is a walled city on the UNESCO World Heritage List with spectacular structures such as the Hawa Mahal, or “Palace of Winds”. For centuries, Rajasthan’s stone carvers have excelled at jali, or latticework, that gives stone the appearance of the finest lace. The carving expertise and skills are passed on within families through the generations, making Rajasthan a hiring ground for temple constructors.
It’s a skillset in high demand for BAPS, a religious institution renowned for its mega temples across the world built in the traditional style. The BAPS temple in a Paris suburb, which was inaugurated over the weekend, is just one of more than 1,300 temples and more than 5,025 centres managed by the Hindu sect across India, North America, Europe, West Asia, Africa and Australia.
The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu sect at the heart of the Eiffel Tower strike made headlines in France during the inauguration of its latest temple near Paris. In the US, BAPS came under the spotlight when Indian stone workers were rescued from a temple construction site. One former worker recounts his journey and fight for justice.
Issued on: 10/09/2026
FRANCE24
By: Leela JACINTO
File photo of the BAPS temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey, taken November 19, 2023. © Ted Shaffrey, AP
More than eight years ago, when Rajeev Y.* first heard about a job in the US from a local contractor in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, the stone carver was thrilled.
“When we heard about the work opportunity, we thought it would be great – a good job outside India, a better life. It sounded like a dream,” said the stone worker who asked for his name to be changed for fear of retaliation and to protect his family in India.
But Rajeev’s American dream soon turned into a nightmare.
He was one of many Indian workers, mostly Dalits from the lowest rungs in India’s social hierarchy, who would go on to file a class action lawsuit in a US court against the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). The Hindu sect made headlines in France this week when Eiffel Tower staff went on strike to protest the removal of female employees from the Paris landmark during a private visit by BAPS religious leaders and members.
Back in 2018, when Rajeev landed in the US, little was known in the West about the conservative Hindu sect whose fortunes – and opulent temples – have flourished since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.
By 2021, American audiences would be better informed as US media detailed allegations of forced labour, abuse, trafficking and violations of immigration laws against BAPS. The Hindu sect has consistently and strenuously denied the charges.
While public awareness has now increased, Rajeev is still seeking justice. Since he arrived in the US eight years ago, the 35-year-old father of three has not been able to hold or play with his children in India. For his kids, “Dad” has turned into a virtual figure on video calls, the one who is working hard abroad, and often against the odds, to provide them with a better life.
More than eight years ago, when Rajeev Y.* first heard about a job in the US from a local contractor in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, the stone carver was thrilled.
“When we heard about the work opportunity, we thought it would be great – a good job outside India, a better life. It sounded like a dream,” said the stone worker who asked for his name to be changed for fear of retaliation and to protect his family in India.
But Rajeev’s American dream soon turned into a nightmare.
He was one of many Indian workers, mostly Dalits from the lowest rungs in India’s social hierarchy, who would go on to file a class action lawsuit in a US court against the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). The Hindu sect made headlines in France this week when Eiffel Tower staff went on strike to protest the removal of female employees from the Paris landmark during a private visit by BAPS religious leaders and members.
Back in 2018, when Rajeev landed in the US, little was known in the West about the conservative Hindu sect whose fortunes – and opulent temples – have flourished since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.
By 2021, American audiences would be better informed as US media detailed allegations of forced labour, abuse, trafficking and violations of immigration laws against BAPS. The Hindu sect has consistently and strenuously denied the charges.
While public awareness has now increased, Rajeev is still seeking justice. Since he arrived in the US eight years ago, the 35-year-old father of three has not been able to hold or play with his children in India. For his kids, “Dad” has turned into a virtual figure on video calls, the one who is working hard abroad, and often against the odds, to provide them with a better life.
‘Just stones, stones, stones’
Rajeev’s American nightmare began shortly after he arrived at a massive BAPS temple construction site in Robbinsville, New Jersey.
“First, they took our passports. Then they told us that if we ever try to go out of the compound, and if we get in trouble, without our passports the police will take us away and put us in prison,” he said in Hindi during a phone interview from the US.
The temple site, though, was a “central prison” for the workers, said Rajeev, using the term in English. “The life in America looked very nice. But not for us. Our work was within the temple, no going out, no talking to people. We had no freedom – only do the stonework, just stones, stones, stones.”
The state of Rajasthan is renowned for its skilled stone carvers. Its sandstone hills in varying shades of ochre ranging from salmon pink to deep red provide colour and grace to some of India’s most iconic landmarks. The capital, Jaipur, also called “the Pink City”, is a walled city on the UNESCO World Heritage List with spectacular structures such as the Hawa Mahal, or “Palace of Winds”. For centuries, Rajasthan’s stone carvers have excelled at jali, or latticework, that gives stone the appearance of the finest lace. The carving expertise and skills are passed on within families through the generations, making Rajasthan a hiring ground for temple constructors.
It’s a skillset in high demand for BAPS, a religious institution renowned for its mega temples across the world built in the traditional style. The BAPS temple in a Paris suburb, which was inaugurated over the weekend, is just one of more than 1,300 temples and more than 5,025 centres managed by the Hindu sect across India, North America, Europe, West Asia, Africa and Australia.
An interior view of the stonework inside the BAPS temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey.
© Ted Shaffrey, AP
But there is a darker side to the production of these stones of wind and light. India has high rates of silicosis, a deadly respiratory disease caused by exposure to fine silica dust. Most of the victims are workers from impoverished, marginalised communities toiling in quarries, mines and the construction industry, according to numerous studies.
Health problems, many of them undiagnosed, chronically plague these workers. It was a health crisis on the New Jersey temple construction site that caught the attention of US authorities, according to rights groups.
A death and an FBI raid
In October 2020, a stone worker named Mohan Lal died in the temple premises. Rajeev, now a member of the Indian Stone Workers Alliance of America (ISWAA), remembers those dark days clearly.
“He was already sick, you know, but he was never admitted in a proper hospital or anywhere outside the construction site,” recounted Rajeev. “He was kept in a trailer that they used for sick people. They used to give us Indian medicines, but the medicines were not working. Mohan Lal kept saying, ‘I need treatment, put me in hospital’. But they never did that,” he said.
The workers – who spoke little or no English and were confined to a work site in an unfamiliar new country – watched with growing anxiety as Lal’s condition deteriorated.
When Lal passed away, “everyone got very scared. We were all thinking, what’s happening here? What if something like this happens to us?” said Rajeev.
BAPS’ attempts to downplay the incident fueled worker unrest, ultimately leading to a May 2021 FBI raid of the premises that rescued more than 100 workers, according to rights groups.
Shortly after the FBI raid, six workers filed a lawsuit in a New Jersey court accusing BAPS of luring them from India, confining them to the temple grounds and paying them the equivalent of about $1 an hour to perform grueling labour in near servitude.
The 42-page class action suit took particular note of the workers’ low caste status. BAPS “recruited workers from the Scheduled Caste, also known as Dalit, and other marginalized communities in India”, it reported. “At the temple in New Jersey, temple leadership did what they could to remind these marginalized workers of their place in the social hierarchy.” The workers were paid the equivalent of around $450 per month in Indian rupees. But they were only paid $50 in cash, with the rest deposited in accounts in India, the complaint said.
BAPS officials denied the charges. “I respectfully disagree with the wage claim,” Kanu Patel, the chief executive of BAPS, told The New York Times. A BAPS spokesman also disputed the accusations, saying the men did complicated work connecting stones that had been hand-carved in India. “They have to be fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. In that process, we need specialized artisans,” he told the newspaper.
Months later, lawyers for the Indian workers filed an amended lawsuit with the New Jersey federal court increasing the number of plaintiffs and expanding the scope from the Robbinsville site to other temples near Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles.
‘We don’t follow their god’
Following the FBI raid, the workers rescued from the New Jersey site were housed in hotels for a month before their cases were assigned to various service provider agencies and social welfare agencies across the US.
“It was 100 times better than what we were facing at the temple,” said Rajeev. “Back home in India, we had to work hard, but we had our families, we could see them. We earned money and we could spend it. Here we were stuck, with no freedom.”
The lawsuit claimed the temple workers were presented to US immigration officials as religious volunteers trained to do specialised work, qualifying them for religious, or R-1, visas.
Rajeev scoffs when asked about his “volunteering” for BAPS. Like most of the workers, he had signed forms and documents in English that he didn’t understand.
“My passport says I’m Hindu. But I follow Bodh dharm,” he said emphatically, using the Hindi words for Buddhism. “We are Dalits, we don’t follow their god,” he added, referring to BAPS members. “We never worship Swaminarayan,” he maintained, referring to the Hindu sage venerated by BAPS. “We make temples. That’s our work. The temple is for them. For us, we were given a separate tent for our worship. The temple is not for us, we were not allowed to worship inside.”
Qayam Masumi, advocacy and programme director for Dalit Solidarity Forum (DSF), a US-based NGO working on Dalit rights, questions how underpaid, subsistence workers could even afford to volunteer their services. “It was a whole scam to bypass labour laws, protections, insurance. They were actually working as daily wage labourers. And they were paid around $1.20 per hour, way below the minimum wage rate.”
A case dropped, but the fight continues
With NGOs and lawyers now on the workers’ side, Rajeev and his fellow plaintiffs felt assured that the criminal case was making its way through the legal process – until they received news of a setback.
In September 2025, months after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) closed the workers’ criminal case.
BAPS North America welcomed the move, noting in a statement that the US government’s “decision to end this investigation sends a clear and powerful message” that their temple is “a place of peace, service, and devotion”.
Masumi says the Dalit Solidarity Forum, which was helping the workers, heard about the case closure from a BAPS lawyer, not the DOJ. “We got to know that the criminal investigation got closed without filing any charges. And there was still no statement, no public document available from DOJ explaining why there were no charges filed,” he explained.
Like many activists following the case, Sunita Viswanath, co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights, criticises the decision to drop the case. “This is the same Trump administration under which the DOJ, for instance, exonerated Eric Adams,” she said, referring to the former New York City mayor whose criminal corruption case was dropped last year, sparking the resignations of Manhattan's top federal prosecutor and six other Justice officials. “We don't believe that the dismissal of this case means that the BAPS temple is exonerated. They haven't made any kind of statement that apologises for their treatment of the workers,” Viswanath noted.
In a joint statement released with five other US-based NGOs, the Dalit Solidarity Forum expressed “deep concern over reports that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has closed its criminal investigation” and demanded “full accountability and justice for these workers and their families”.
While the criminal case was dropped, a civil wage theft case, however, “remains fully intact and is actively moving forward,” the statement added.
Since the FBI rescued more than 100 workers from the New Jersey temple site, many of them have returned to India due to family emergencies and personal issues. Following their rescue, the workers were granted T visas for victims of “severe” human trafficking. Since T visa-holders face extensive paperwork if they leave the US and want to return, many of the workers over the past five years have opted to return to lives and families in India.
But Rajeev and a few other workers remain in the US for a cause. “We want justice, that’s what we want,” he said simply.
When asked if he and his fellow stone workers had heard about the Eiffel Tower controversy surrounding BAPS, Rajeev was vague about the news, but clear about the interests of his loved ones.
“I don’t pay much attention, we did hear about the news in France. But no one from my family and my village worked on that site,” he said. “Those are other workers, they need to earn a livelihood, they have no other option,” he said. “But me, I will never work for BAPS.”
But there is a darker side to the production of these stones of wind and light. India has high rates of silicosis, a deadly respiratory disease caused by exposure to fine silica dust. Most of the victims are workers from impoverished, marginalised communities toiling in quarries, mines and the construction industry, according to numerous studies.
Health problems, many of them undiagnosed, chronically plague these workers. It was a health crisis on the New Jersey temple construction site that caught the attention of US authorities, according to rights groups.
A death and an FBI raid
In October 2020, a stone worker named Mohan Lal died in the temple premises. Rajeev, now a member of the Indian Stone Workers Alliance of America (ISWAA), remembers those dark days clearly.
“He was already sick, you know, but he was never admitted in a proper hospital or anywhere outside the construction site,” recounted Rajeev. “He was kept in a trailer that they used for sick people. They used to give us Indian medicines, but the medicines were not working. Mohan Lal kept saying, ‘I need treatment, put me in hospital’. But they never did that,” he said.
The workers – who spoke little or no English and were confined to a work site in an unfamiliar new country – watched with growing anxiety as Lal’s condition deteriorated.
When Lal passed away, “everyone got very scared. We were all thinking, what’s happening here? What if something like this happens to us?” said Rajeev.
BAPS’ attempts to downplay the incident fueled worker unrest, ultimately leading to a May 2021 FBI raid of the premises that rescued more than 100 workers, according to rights groups.
Shortly after the FBI raid, six workers filed a lawsuit in a New Jersey court accusing BAPS of luring them from India, confining them to the temple grounds and paying them the equivalent of about $1 an hour to perform grueling labour in near servitude.
The 42-page class action suit took particular note of the workers’ low caste status. BAPS “recruited workers from the Scheduled Caste, also known as Dalit, and other marginalized communities in India”, it reported. “At the temple in New Jersey, temple leadership did what they could to remind these marginalized workers of their place in the social hierarchy.” The workers were paid the equivalent of around $450 per month in Indian rupees. But they were only paid $50 in cash, with the rest deposited in accounts in India, the complaint said.
BAPS officials denied the charges. “I respectfully disagree with the wage claim,” Kanu Patel, the chief executive of BAPS, told The New York Times. A BAPS spokesman also disputed the accusations, saying the men did complicated work connecting stones that had been hand-carved in India. “They have to be fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. In that process, we need specialized artisans,” he told the newspaper.
Months later, lawyers for the Indian workers filed an amended lawsuit with the New Jersey federal court increasing the number of plaintiffs and expanding the scope from the Robbinsville site to other temples near Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles.
‘We don’t follow their god’
Following the FBI raid, the workers rescued from the New Jersey site were housed in hotels for a month before their cases were assigned to various service provider agencies and social welfare agencies across the US.
“It was 100 times better than what we were facing at the temple,” said Rajeev. “Back home in India, we had to work hard, but we had our families, we could see them. We earned money and we could spend it. Here we were stuck, with no freedom.”
The lawsuit claimed the temple workers were presented to US immigration officials as religious volunteers trained to do specialised work, qualifying them for religious, or R-1, visas.
Rajeev scoffs when asked about his “volunteering” for BAPS. Like most of the workers, he had signed forms and documents in English that he didn’t understand.
“My passport says I’m Hindu. But I follow Bodh dharm,” he said emphatically, using the Hindi words for Buddhism. “We are Dalits, we don’t follow their god,” he added, referring to BAPS members. “We never worship Swaminarayan,” he maintained, referring to the Hindu sage venerated by BAPS. “We make temples. That’s our work. The temple is for them. For us, we were given a separate tent for our worship. The temple is not for us, we were not allowed to worship inside.”
Qayam Masumi, advocacy and programme director for Dalit Solidarity Forum (DSF), a US-based NGO working on Dalit rights, questions how underpaid, subsistence workers could even afford to volunteer their services. “It was a whole scam to bypass labour laws, protections, insurance. They were actually working as daily wage labourers. And they were paid around $1.20 per hour, way below the minimum wage rate.”
A case dropped, but the fight continues
With NGOs and lawyers now on the workers’ side, Rajeev and his fellow plaintiffs felt assured that the criminal case was making its way through the legal process – until they received news of a setback.
In September 2025, months after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) closed the workers’ criminal case.
BAPS North America welcomed the move, noting in a statement that the US government’s “decision to end this investigation sends a clear and powerful message” that their temple is “a place of peace, service, and devotion”.
Masumi says the Dalit Solidarity Forum, which was helping the workers, heard about the case closure from a BAPS lawyer, not the DOJ. “We got to know that the criminal investigation got closed without filing any charges. And there was still no statement, no public document available from DOJ explaining why there were no charges filed,” he explained.
Like many activists following the case, Sunita Viswanath, co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights, criticises the decision to drop the case. “This is the same Trump administration under which the DOJ, for instance, exonerated Eric Adams,” she said, referring to the former New York City mayor whose criminal corruption case was dropped last year, sparking the resignations of Manhattan's top federal prosecutor and six other Justice officials. “We don't believe that the dismissal of this case means that the BAPS temple is exonerated. They haven't made any kind of statement that apologises for their treatment of the workers,” Viswanath noted.
In a joint statement released with five other US-based NGOs, the Dalit Solidarity Forum expressed “deep concern over reports that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has closed its criminal investigation” and demanded “full accountability and justice for these workers and their families”.
While the criminal case was dropped, a civil wage theft case, however, “remains fully intact and is actively moving forward,” the statement added.
Since the FBI rescued more than 100 workers from the New Jersey temple site, many of them have returned to India due to family emergencies and personal issues. Following their rescue, the workers were granted T visas for victims of “severe” human trafficking. Since T visa-holders face extensive paperwork if they leave the US and want to return, many of the workers over the past five years have opted to return to lives and families in India.
But Rajeev and a few other workers remain in the US for a cause. “We want justice, that’s what we want,” he said simply.
When asked if he and his fellow stone workers had heard about the Eiffel Tower controversy surrounding BAPS, Rajeev was vague about the news, but clear about the interests of his loved ones.
“I don’t pay much attention, we did hear about the news in France. But no one from my family and my village worked on that site,” he said. “Those are other workers, they need to earn a livelihood, they have no other option,” he said. “But me, I will never work for BAPS.”
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