US city cancels deal with Nithyananda’s ‘Kailaasa’

New York: After being duped, a US city has canceled a sister-city pact with the fictional nation ‘Kailaasa’, which fugitive saint Nithyananda’s organization claimed was recognized by the US. Newark press secretary Susan Garofalo said in a message Wednesday that the “sister-city (sister-city) ceremony based on deception is baseless and void.”

He added that “as soon as we became aware of the circumstances surrounding Kailasa, the City of Newark took immediate action and revoked the sister-city agreement on January 18th.” Despite Newark canceling the agreement, Kailasa’s government continues to post it on its website with the claim that, “The United States of America recognizes United States Kailasa (USK) and signs a bilateral agreement. “

Newark Copper shows how easy it is for groups to manipulate municipal and state bodies by taking advantage of their lack of international sophistication, inadvertently seeming to confer legitimacy on their causes, even when they align with official US positions. be at odds. USK’s Newark effort was part of a disinformation campaign claiming legitimacy for the nation founded by Nithyananda, who fled India in 2019 while facing rape and kidnapping charges.

Last month, two USK members made an appearance at a meeting of the United Nations panel in Geneva, when the session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) opened to questions and comments from the audience. One of them injected the claim of Nithyananda being harassed into his comments. He then created a false impression on social media that USK was recognized by the United Nations.

In January when a UN panel in Geneva sought comments for a report on the sexual abuse of children, USK sent comments that the panel mixed with others. The USK then claimed that their report was an official document of the United Nations. The agreement with Newark was signed on or around January 11 in a ceremony attended by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and other city leaders.

A photo on the USK website shows Baraka signing the scrapped agreement with a woman with a turban and a pendant on her forehead. Another woman in a similar outfit is seen in her trademark outfit. “We can’t bring sister-cities international into an issue that’s going to be a dispute,” said council member Luis Quintana, who proposed repealing the agreement.

He added, that “we cannot put ourselves in a position where we have a sister-city (a settlement with a city) that has no human rights and (includes) in terms of issues that Made elsewhere.” He said, that “this inspection cannot happen anymore.” There are other examples of cities and states stepping in on disputes involving India. For example, last year the Connecticut General Assembly, influenced by Khalistanis, issued a citation “in recognition of the 36th anniversary of the Sikh Declaration of Independence”, while the state’s city of Norwich celebrated April 29 as “Sikh Declaration of Independence Day”. declared. ,

At least six US cities have passed resolutions condemning India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, which speeds up citizenship for non-Muslims fleeing persecution in India, while allowing citizenship under the normal deadline for Muslims also gives She added that she would “not pretend to be an expert” on India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.