US’s Newark revokes sister-city settlement with fugitive Nithyananda’s Kailasa

Newark metropolis in New Jersey revoked the sister-city settlement it signed with rape-accused Indian fugitive Nithyananda’s United States of Kailasa.

New Delhi ,UPDATED: Mar 6, 2023 21:47 IST

Self-proclaimed godman Nityananda fled India and is alleged to have based the United States of Kailasa in 2019. (File photograph)

By India Today World Desk: The Newark metropolis in US’s New Jersey was not too long ago in for some embarrassment because it needed to rescind a sister-city settlement with rape-accused Nithyananda’s ‘United States of Kailasa’, inside per week of inking the settlement with the ‘digital sovereign state’.

The signing ceremony for the sister-city settlement between Newark and the ‘United States of Kailasa’ befell on the City Hall in Newark on January 12 this yr.

Press Secretary within the Department of Communications, City of Newark, Susan Garofalo advised information company PTI that as quickly as “we learned about the circumstances surrounding Kailasa, the City of Newark immediately took action and rescinded the sister city agreement” on January 18.

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“Based on deception, the ceremony was groundless and void…Although this was a regrettable incident, the City of Newark remains committed to partnering with people from diverse cultures in order to enrich each other with connectivity, support, and mutual respect,” said Garofalo.

Newark Councilman at Large Luis Quintana sponsored the motion to rescind the agreement. He said during official proceedings that going forward any city entering into a sister city agreement “has to be in good standards of human rights.”

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“We can not deliver Sister Cities International into a problem the place there may be controversy…whereas sister cities are inspired, agreements can’t be entered into with governments which haven’t got human rights,” he said.

Self-proclaimed godman Nithyananda is wanted in India on several charges of rape and sexual assault—allegations which have been refuted by him. Nithyananda fled the country and is said to have founded the “United States of Kailasa (USK)” in 2019, which counts “two billion practising Hindus” among its population.

Despite Nithyananda’s claims of establishing an “impartial nation” of his own where people allegedly lead their lives according to Hindu beliefs, there is no evidence to prove its actual existence.

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The self-proclaimed godman and his United States of Kerala were recently in the news after he sent a delegation from his ‘virtual sovereign state’ to a United Nations conference under the leadership of his disciple ‘Ma Vijayapriya Nithyananda.’

At a general discussion on Sustainable Development held by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) on February 24, two people, including Vijayapriya, spoke during the part of the session open to the public claiming to be from the “United States of Kailasa”.

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According to the verified Facebook account of ‘Kailasa’, Vijayapriya Nithyananda is the permanent ambassador of ‘Kailasa country’ in the United Nations. Vijayapriya has the status of “Diplomat in Nithyananda’s nation Kailasa”.

In the UN convention, Vijayapriya Nithyananda alleged that her supreme guru was being “persecuted in India for reviving Hindu traditions”.

Vijayapriya requested on the United Nations assembly what measures could possibly be taken on the nationwide and worldwide degree to forestall the persecution of Nithyananda and the 20 million Hindu migrant inhabitants in Kailasa.

Responding to questions on USK’s participation on the UN discussion board, the United Nations mentioned the inputs offered by the organisation of the ‘self-proclaimed’ determine wouldn’t be considered.

Edited By:

Raajnandini Mukherjee

Published On:

Mar 6, 2023