After being duped, an American city has scrapped a sister-city pact with the fictional nation of “Kailaasa”, which fugitive tantrik Nithyananda’s organization claimed to be recognized by the US.
“Based on a hoax, the (sister-city) ceremony was baseless and void,” Newark press secretary Susan Garofalo said in a message to IANS on Wednesday.
“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 18,” he added.
Despite Newark canceling the agreement, “the government of Kailasa” continues to post it on its website with the claim, “The United States of America recognizes the United States of Kailasa (USK) and signs a bilateral agreement”. “
The Newark caper 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.
The Newark effort of “USK” was a 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 members of the USK 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) on Sustainable Development opened to questions and comments from the audience.
One of them injected Nithyananda’s claim of being “harassed” into his comments.
He then created the 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 UN document.
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 annulled agreement with a woman with a turban and a pendant on her forehead and wearing several necklaces, while another woman with a similar dress showing up in her trademark outfit.
Council member Luis Quintana, who proposed nullifying the agreement, said, “We cannot bring Sister-Cities International into an issue where there is controversy.”
He said, “We cannot put ourselves in a position where we have a sister-city (a pact with a city) that has no human rights and (includes) in terms of issues that are elsewhere.” and have been made.”
“This inspection can’t happen anymore,” he said.
There are other examples of cities and states stepping in on disputes involving India.
Last year, for example, the Connecticut General Assembly, influenced by the 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 in ,
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
But in 2021, a Chicago City Council resolution criticizing India failed.
Speaking afterwards, Mayor Lori Lightfoot set the standard for local bodies in international affairs.
According to The Chicago Tribune, he questioned whether the aldermen, as council members are known in the city, knew enough about India.
She added that she would not “pretend to be an expert” on India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Lightfoot said, “What I say sitting here as the mayor of Chicago is that I will not outrun a (President Joe) Biden administration.”
With a population of 307,000, Newark is the largest city in New Jersey.
Although New Jersey has the third largest number of Asian-Indians in the US and the largest by percentage, their population in the city of Newark is small compared to other areas of the state.
(The above article has been taken from news agency IANS. Zeenews.com has not made any editorial changes to the article. News agency IANS is solely responsible for the content of the article)