• Representatives from the United States of Kailasa attended two UN committee meetings in Geneva in February.
• Nithyananda, a self-styled guru, is wanted in India on multiple counts, including rape and sexual abuse.
• The Indian government has yet to make a public statement on the situation.

The United Nations has stated that it will disregard claims made by representatives of a fugitive Hindu guru’s fictitious country at two official events.

In February, representatives from the United States of Kailasa attended two UN committee meetings in Geneva.

According to a UN official, their remarks were “irrelevant” and “tangential” to the topics being debated.

Nithyananda, a self-styled guru, is wanted in India on multiple counts, including rape and sexual abuse.

Nithyananda has rejected the allegations leveled against him, claiming that he created the United States of Kailasa (USK) in 2019.

This week’s attendance by USK at UN activities generated news in India. The Indian government has yet to make a public statement on the situation.

On February 22, the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) hosted a discussion on the representation of women in decision-making institutions. On February 24, USK representatives also took part in a second discussion on sustainable development held by the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR).

These general conversations are available to the public, according to Vivian Kwok, a communications officer of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Ms. Kwok said USK’s written submission to CEDAW will not be included in their report since it was “irrelevant to the issue of the general discussion”.

She also added that a statement made by a USK representative during the second debate would not be taken into consideration as its focus “was tangential to the topic at hand”.

A video on the UN website of the second session shows that when questions are invited from attendees, a woman introduces herself as Vijayapriya Nithyananda, “the permanent ambassador of the United States of Kailasa” and says she wants to ask a question about “indigenous rights and sustainable development”.

She describes USK as the “first sovereign state for Hindus” established by Nithyananda, the “supreme pontiff of Hinduism”. She also claims that USK has been “successful with sustainable development” because it provided necessities such as food, shelter and medical care for free to all its citizens. Her question is regarding what measures can be put in place to “stop the persecution” of Nithyananda and the people of Kailasa.

A representative from One Ocean Hub and an Essex University lecturer was among those who asked questions during the conversation.

Former Indian diplomat Preeti Saran, who represents Asia Pacific at the CESCR, was present for the conversation.

Nithyananda departed India in 2019 after being charged with rape. A female disciple had accused him of rape in 2010, following which he was briefly jailed before gaining release. In 2018, he was charged in court.

A separate police complaint filed days before he left the country accused him of kidnapping and confining youngsters at his ashram in the western state of Gujarat.

The same year, he claimed to have purchased an island off the coast of Ecuador and established a new country called Kailasa, named after a Himalayan mountain revered as the abode of the Hindu god Shiva.

At the time, Ecuador denied that he was in the country, and declared that “Nithyananda has not been awarded asylum by Ecuador or has been aided by the government of Ecuador”.

Nithyananda has not been in public since 2019, yet footage of his lectures is regularly posted on his social media accounts. According to the Guardian, Nithyananda’s UK representative attended “a spectacular Diwali celebration at the House of Lords” at the request of two Conservative members last year.

As Nithyananda’s Twitter account published a photo of Vijayapriya Nithyananda, news of the UN event began to circulate on Indian social media.

Afterward, a tweet thread appeared introducing USK’s ambassadors to various corners of the world, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and the Caribbean.

Kailasa is home to “two billion practicing Hindus,” according to its website. It also claims a flag, constitution, central bank, passport, and emblem.

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