Eiffel Tower Director to Exit After Controversy Over Exclusion of Female Staff During Hindu Sect Visit

The director of the Eiffel Tower is set to leave his position at the end of 2026 following a scandal that erupted when female employees were reportedly sidelined during a private visit by a conservative Hindu religious group, the company that operates the Paris landmark confirmed on Tuesday.

Patrick Branco Ruivo, who has led the iconic monument since 2018, will depart at year's end after an internal investigation identified what the operating company SETE described as "operational flaws and shortcomings" in how the visit was organised. The company called the removal of women staff "unacceptable" in its statement announcing the leadership change.

The controversy centres on the visit by members of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, known as BAPS, a worldwide religious and civic organisation within the Swaminarayan sect — a conservative branch of Hinduism. The group had been holding celebrations to mark the inauguration of a traditional Hindu stone temple near Paris, and its members were granted a private tour of the tower in early September.

During that visit, management made the decision to remove female workers from the area, a move that immediately drew condemnation once it became public. The decision appeared intended to accommodate the religious customs of the visiting group, but it struck many in France as a violation of the country's core principle of gender equality and secularism.

Staff at the 330-metre (1,083-foot) tower staged a walkout on September 8 to protest the decision, forcing the monument to close temporarily. The strike brought the symbolic heart of Paris to a standstill and amplified the growing public backlash against both the tower's management and the visiting religious organisation.

The incident quickly became a national flashpoint, with politicians across the political spectrum denouncing what they described as an attack on fundamental liberties. French leaders from various parties — ordinarily divided on many issues — found rare common ground in criticising the exclusion of women from the workplace, even temporarily and even for reasons of cultural sensitivity.

The tower reopened after BAPS issued a statement offering "sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or inconvenienced by this situation." The group has not commented publicly on Branco Ruivo's impending departure.

Beyond the immediate fallout at the Eiffel Tower, the episode attracted broader scrutiny of BAPS's activities in France and beyond. The organisation, which has ties to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is a significant global Hindu body with a large diaspora following. Its presence in France — and the special arrangements made for its members at a publicly cherished monument — raised uncomfortable questions about the influence of religious groups on public institutions.

Ariel Weil, who chairs SETE, said she had requested that measures and training programmes promoting gender equality be implemented in the wake of the controversy. The announcement of such initiatives suggests the company is attempting to move beyond the incident by embedding new practices designed to prevent similar situations from arising in the future.

Branco Ruivo's tenure began in 2018 and has been marked by efforts to modernise operations at the tower, one of the most visited paid monuments in the world. His departure at the end of the year will leave a significant leadership void at a time when the institution is still managing the reputational consequences of the September events.

The controversy tapped into deep currents in French public life, particularly the country's strict interpretation of laïcité — the separation of religion and the state — which many see as non-negotiable. The sight of a public institution altering its workforce to accommodate religious custom was viewed by critics as a troubling precedent, regardless of the intention behind it.

The internal probe's findings, which pointed to organisational failures rather than deliberate policy, did little to quell public anger when they were released. The company's decision to accept Branco Ruivo's departure signals an acknowledgment that accountability was required at the highest level.

For the Eiffel Tower itself, the episode represents an unusual moment of controversy for a monument more accustomed to serving as a backdrop for celebrations and tourism. The walkout marked one of the rare occasions in recent memory when labour unrest shut down the landmark entirely.

The story also highlighted tensions within France's Indian diaspora, with some community members expressing discomfort at how the incident had been portrayed and others criticising BAPS's practices. The affair thus reverberated well beyond the tower's iron lattice, touching on questions of religion, gender, labour rights and national identity.

As the year draws to a close, attention will turn to who will succeed Branco Ruivo and whether the promised equality training and procedural reforms will be sufficient to restore confidence among staff and the public alike. The tower's management has yet to announce a timeline for appointing a successor.

For now, the departing director leaves behind a monument whose operational reputation has been dented, and a workforce that demonstrated its willingness to walk out when it believed core values were being compromised. The fallout stands as a reminder that even the most beloved symbols can become stages for the country's most sensitive debates.