What is BAPS, the Hindu group whose demands led to Eiffel Tower closure?

Staff at the Eiffel Tower walked out and the landmark was briefly closed after workers said female employees were asked to step aside during a private visit by a delegation from BAPS. The tower’s operator, SETE, confirmed the group had requested the visit be arranged to limit contact with women and later said such conditions should not have been accepted. Union representatives said women were asked to leave certain posts, were replaced by men in some roles, and were instructed not to pass through or cross particular areas while the delegation was present. The staff statement condemned what it described as professional instructions that made female employees "invisible because of their sex." BAPS, a global socio‑spiritual Hindu denomination founded in India in 1907 that expanded internationally from the 1960s, said it was unaware that anyone had been denied access and issued an apology on its Paris social account. The organisation’s monks, or sadhus, follow strict celibacy rules that discourage physical contact with women and avoiding being alone with them; wider community members are not bound by those rules. News reports said the visiting delegation included both monks and community members. The episode drew swift criticism from French politicians, with officials including Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire and ministers for gender equality and parliament leaders calling for explanations and stressing that public life in France does not permit women to be sidelined. The closure came a day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated a BAPS temple in Paris; researchers have long noted a cooperative relationship between BAPS and Modi’s government. BAPS has previously been involved in legal and public controversies, including a 1966 court case and allegations made by former monks in 2013, which the organisation denied.