The United Nations has said that it will ignore the statements made by the representatives of self-styled religious leader Nithyananda’s fictional country Kailasa at its two official events, reported the BBC.
The rape-accused religious leader claims to have set up a country called the United States of Kailasa, or USK, which is an island off the coast of Ecuador. However, Kailasa is not among the 193 countries recognised by the United Nations.
A delegation from the island attended two events hosted by the United Nations in Geneva on February 22 and 24.
The first event was a discussion on the representation of women in decision-making systems, held by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Kailasa representatives also participated in another discussion on sustainable development organised by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on February 24.
Vivian Kwok, a media officer at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights told the BBC that these were public meetings open to anyone who was interested. She said that Kailasa’s written submissions to the events would not be included in their report as they were irrelevant to the topic of the general discussion.
“A statement made by a Kailasa representative at the second discussion would not be taken into consideration as its focus was tangential to the topic at hand,” Kwok told the news channel.
During the event organised by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Kailasa representative Vijayapriya Nithyananda had claimed that the country has been implementing the “ancient Hindu policies and indigenous solutions that are in alignment with the time-tested Hindu principles for sustainable development,” reported IANS.
The representative also claimed that Nithyananda was persecuted and his human rights were violated for reviving the “indigenous traditions and lifestyle and lifestyle of Hinduism”. She had also sought the panel’s advice on what can be done to help Nithyanada who has been “banned” from his country of birth.
Nithyananda had fled India after he was accused of rape and of confining children in his ashram illegally. In 2019, India had cancelled Nithyananda’s passport and also rejected his application for a fresh one. He is accused of abducting children and using them to raise money for his ashram.
On Thursday, Vijayapriya Nithyananda issued a statement on Twitter alleging that her statement at the United Nations was being “misinterpreted, willfully manipulated, and distorted by certain anti-Hindu sections of the media.”
She added: “We urge the Indian government to take action against these anti-Hindu elements who continue to attack and incite violence against The SPH [Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism] and KAILASA. It is important to note that these actions do not reflect the values or beliefs of the vast majority of the Indian population.”
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