Days after the consecration of the BAPS—or, to use its full name, the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha—temple in a Parisian suburb, a delegation of some 100 people associated with the organisation decided to visit the Eiffel Tower.

What happened next is under some dispute. The operating company that runs the iconic landmark said the delegation had asked for the visit to be organised so as to “limit interactions with women”. BAPS’s social media account states that “to the best of our knowledge, at no point was anyone prevented access to the Eiffel Tower”.

What is undisputed is that management had asked women staff to stay out of sight while the monks, who’ve undertaken strict vows of celibacy, came visiting on Saturday morning. On Monday, the Eiffel Tower remained shut as staff went on strike. Staff union representative Diane Davoine said the women felt humiliated as they were “asked to leave their places of work”. Suddenly, the incident and the exclusion of women was all over the news.

Some of the outrage had a touch of parochial nationalism. Much was said about the French way and how in France women are not asked to step aside. “In France, no culture, no belief, no worship, nothing nor anyone can come to dictate to women their place,” said former prime minister Gabriel Attal, a centrist. “In France, we will never accept that the........

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