- Tuesday, March 04, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The United Nations (UN) human rights office has said that submissions made by the representatives of the United States of Kailasa (USK), a country proclaimed by controversial self-styled Indian ‘godman’ Nithyananda were “irrelevant” and would not be considered in the outcome documents.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said this days after two representatives of the USK took part in ‘Day of General Discussion on General Comment on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Sustainable Development’, an event organised by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
The OHCHR confirmed the participation of the two representatives, according to the Press Trust of India, but they were not allowed to distribute promotional material and their ‘tangential’ speech was not considered.
According to reports, one of the representatives of the USK, Vijayapriya Nithyananda, said her so-called country has been carrying out “ancient Hindu policies and indigenous solutions” for sustainable development.
She also said that Nithyananda, who has charges of rape and illegally confining children in his ashram in Indian states of Karnataka and Gujarat, respectively, is being “persecuted by anti-Hindu elements” in India.
On Thursday (2), she said in a clarification on Twitter saying, “I would like to clarify that I stated that the SPH Bhagavan Nithyananda Paramashivam is persecuted in his birthplace by certain anti-Hindu elements. The United States of KAILASA holds India in high regard and respects India as its Gurupeedam. Thank you.”
A spokesperson of the OHCHR said that one of the representatives of the USK “briefly” at the event when the floor was opened to people.
“As the focus of the statement was tangential to the topic at hand, it will not be taken into consideration by the Committee in the formulation of the General Comment,” the official added, according to an Indian Express report.
Saying the registration for such events is open to the general public, the spokesperson added, “Anyone can submit information to the treaty bodies, who will use their judgment to determine the credibility of the submissions received.”
Following the accusations of rape and kidnapping, Nithyananda fled India in 2019 and surfaced a year later with the claim of having founded his own country. While nobody really knows where his country is located, his followers keep posting about developments happening there on social media.
According to one report, Nithyananda bought an island off the coast of the Latin American country of Ecuador where he claims to set up his country but there have been no visuals to support the claims. The government of Ecuador also said in the past that Nithyananda was not in the country.
‘Kailasa’ is named after Mount Kailash in Tibet, considered the abode of Lord Shiva and sacred to Hindus.
