Newark falls for fake nation; signs partnership with non-existent Hindu nation

Kailasa, was apparently the brainchild of Swami Nithyananda, a ‘Hindu guru’ who is currently in exile after being charged with rape in India.

Hyderabad: The city of Newark, New Jersey, has been left red-faced after it admitted that it was hoodwinked into signing an official partnership with a supposed Hindu nation that doesn’t even exist.

The nation, called Kailasa, was apparently the brainchild of Swami Nithyananda, a ‘Hindu guru’ who is currently in exile after being charged with rape in India.

---

According to Nithyananda, Kailasa is a “revival” of a Hindu nation, and he claims to have even purchased an island off the coast of Ecuador to establish it. However, the Ecuadorian government has denied having any involvement with him.

Despite the lack of evidence of the existence of Kailasa, two women garbed in traditional clothing and jewellery showed up at a ceremony in Newark, where the Mayor and several officials signed an agreement to become sister cities with the ‘United States of Kailasa’.

One of the women even gave an eight-minute speech, thanking Newark for the partnership and speaking of creating an “enlightened Hindu civilisation”.

The city of Newark recently signed a deal to work with a “sister city” overseas, with the purpose of establishing an international relationship

But there was just one problem – the “United States of Kailasa” does not exist 👇🏾https://t.co/asl8UGLXDy pic.twitter.com/0eIYNjEzjl

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 7, 2023

https://twitter.com/one_by_two/status/1631147689734815750?s=20

It took six days for the city council to realise that it had been duped, and they quickly voted to rescind their partnership with the faux nation. The city has since called the incident “regrettable”, but remains committed to partnering with people from diverse cultures.

However, the same woman who spoke at the Newark signing showed up at two United Nations meetings in Geneva the following month, claiming to represent Kailasa. She even went by the name Vijayapriya Nithyananda, suggesting a connection to Swami Nithyananda. The UN, however, has dismissed her contributions as irrelevant.

It’s unclear how the supposed representatives of Kailasa managed to convince Newark officials to sign the agreement in the first place. Perhaps, the allure of partnering with a new and exotic nation was too tempting to resist. Or, maybe they simply didn’t do their due diligence in researching the legitimacy of Kailasa.