On February 22, a woman called Ma Vijayapriya Nithyananda represented the ‘United States of Kailasa’ at the 19th United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESR) meeting. The self-declared state has its ties to self-styled godman Nithyananda who has been on a run since 2019 after being charged of rape and abduction
Vijayapriya named as ‘permanent ambassador from Kailasa’, made a vague link between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Hinduism, and then went on to claim that the founder of her ‘nation’, Ntihyananda, was being ‘persecuted’ by India
Vijayapriya said, “Kailasa was established by Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism Nithyananda Paramashivam, who is reviving the enlightened Hindu civilisation and its 10,000 traditions of Hinduism, including the Adi Shaivite indigenous agricultural tribes.”
A citizen of the US, Vijaypriya stays in Washington DC and has earned the status of diplomat of the ‘United States of Kailasa’. She was accompanied by several other representatives of the state who were clad in saffron and white clothes paired with rudraksha mala, traditional gold jewellery and ‘tika’, religious markers of the Hindu religion
Vijaypriya’s UN delegation included Kailasa Los Angeles’ Ma Muktika Ananda, Kailasa St Louis’ Ma Sona Kamat, Kailasa UK’s Ma Nithya Atmadayananda, Kailasa France’s Nithya Venkatesananda, and Kailasa Slovenia’s Priyampara Nithtananda
The UN had taken a break from discussing its regular reports to have a general discussion on sustainable development, legal matters, indigenous people, poverty and labour standards speaking about how the covenant applied to these issues. The United States of Kailasa delegation talked about sustainable development among other issues
Vijayapriya’s LinkedIn profile suggests that she has studied at the University of Cambridge and holds a BSc degree in Microbiology and a minor in Chemistry. Not much is known about her pivot to the self-made group and her alliance with Swami Nithyananda
Nithyananda is a self-styled godman who used to deliver sermons and enjoyed a large followership. In 2010, Sun TV telecasted video recordings claiming Nithyananda to be in a compromising position with an actress named Ranjitha. The same year, a US citizen accused Nithyananda of rape
In 2019, a Tamil Nadu-based couple accused Nithyananda of abducting their three children. He later fled from India and was reportedly shuffling between Ecuador and Trinidad and Tobago
Nithyananda later declared a new ‘Hindu nation’ Kailasa (also known as Shrikailasa), introduced the official gold currency, Kailashian dollar, Reserve Bank of Kailasa and also started issuing three-day-long visas to tourists