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Nithyananda Paramashivam, the guru and founder of Kailasa, has pending accounts with the Indian judiciary for rape and kidnapping
3 hours ago
The United States of Kailasa participated in sessions of two debates at the United Nations (UN).
At first glance, the information does not appear new, as it is expected by the member countries of the international body. The problem is that Kailasa is neither part of the UN nor an official state.
The fact caused an uproar and forced the UN to guarantee that it would ignore testimonies made by the fictitious country’s representatives before two of its courts in Geneva, Switzerland.
An official assured that the participation of Kailasa representatives was “irrelevant” and “tangential” to the issues discussed.
The country and its founder
Selfproclaimed Hindu guru Nithyananda Paramashivam claims to have founded the United States of Kailasa in 2019.
Where? Allegedly on an island he bought from Ecuador, according to Paramashivam himself in 2019. That year, Ecuador denied the guru was on its territory or had granted him asylum.
According to the Kailasa website, the putative state, named after a mountain in the Himalayas believed to be the abode of the Hindu god Shiva, claims to have “two billion practicing Hindus” among its population.
He also claims to have a flag, constitution, central bank, passport and emblem.
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The United States of Kailasa would be located on an island in Ecuador that its founder would have bought, although there is no evidence of the purchase or the existence of the alleged state.
In January 2023, the imaginary country also claimed to have signed an agreement with the authorities of the American city of Denver. The fact is presented as an acknowledgment of their existence.
But that’s not all: The alleged founding father of the “first sovereign state of the Hindus” is to comment on allegations of rape and sexual assault by the Indian judiciary.
A student of the alleged religious leader accused him of rape in 2010. Shortly after, he was briefly arrested by police before being released on bail. In 2018 he was charged in court.
Days before his departure from India, another complaint was made of kidnapping and imprisoning children at his ashram (monastery) in Gujarat state, also in India.
Nithyananda, whose whereabouts are unknown, has denied the allegations against him.
explain the incident
The presence of the nonexistent country at two sessions of the UN committee in late February did not go unnoticed in India, where it was reported in the press and went viral on social media. The New Delhi government has not commented on the incident.
A UN official admitted to the BBC via email that “representatives of Kailasa attended two public meetings in Geneva,” reported Meryl Sebastian.
The first event that the authorities of the nonexistent state were able to infiltrate was a debate on women’s representation in decisionmaking systems, organized by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw, for its acronym in English), on February 22nd.
Two days later, the alleged diplomats also took part in a discussion on sustainable development organized by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Ecosoc).
Vivian Kwok, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, attributed the incident to the fact that these types of dialogues are public meetings and are open to all interested parties.
The UN consists of 193 member states, but also allows the participation of some peoples who do not have their own state, but with the consent of the majority of their members, as in the case of the Palestinian Territories.
However, it represents an embarrassing incident that calls into question the strictness of the UN protocols.
“Not everyone can attend, let alone participate, in a conference, session or discussion of a UN body. It is necessary To in advance,” Mercedes de Freitas, director of the organization Transparencia Venezuela, told BBC News Mundo. For more than a decade, she has been visiting various entities of the United Nations system to present the Latin American country’s issues.
“The registration process is not easy. For example, civil society organizations require that an organization is already registered with the UN,” he explained.
fun in the stands
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A woman posing as Vijayapriya Nithyananda posed as Kailasa’s ambassador and spoke to a UN committee
Video of the second session released on the UN website shows that when participants are asked to ask questions, a woman introduces herself as Vijayapriya Nithyananda, “Permanent Ambassador of Kailasa to the United States,” saying that after ” Indigenous Rights and Sustainable Development”. .
The intervener described Kailasa as the “first sovereign state for Hindus” founded by Nithyananda, “the supreme pope of Hinduism.” She also stated that the country is “successful with sustainable development” because it provides basic necessities such as food, shelter and health care to all its citizens free of charge.
The presumed ambassador took her opportunity to call for action to “end the persecution” against Nithyananda and the people of Kailasa, Meryl Sebastian reported.
without leaving any traces
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The United States of Kailasa is credited as the first Hindu sovereign state on its official website
Nithyananda has not appeared in public for three years, although videos of his sermons are regularly posted on his social media channels.
British newspaper The Guardian reported in 2022 that the representative of Nithyananda in the UK attended “a glamorous Diwali party in the House of Lords” at the invitation of two Conservative Party members.
The solicited guru posted a photo of his alleged ambassador attending the UN event on Twitter, and later, on the same social network, presented his alleged state’s diplomatic representatives in different parts of the world, including the UK, Canada and the Caribbean.