New Delhi: Fugitive self-styled ‘godman’ and rape-accused Nithyananda has reportedly set up a ‘Hindu nation’ called Kailaasa on an island near Ecuador, a postcard-pretty country located in the west coast of South America.
It was Ecuador that had given Wikileaks founder Julian Assange asylum for seven years in its London embassy.
As the security agencies continued their search for Nithyananda, who is being probed in a rape case in Karnataka and another case in Gujarat, news reports emerged that the ‘godman’ has run away to Ecuador via Nepal, and that he has acquired an island and declared the creation of a ‘Hindu Nation’ — called Kailaasa.
According to the website, www.kailaasa.org run by the fugitive, his so-called nation is “without borders created by dispossessed Hindus from around the world who lost the right to practice Hinduism authentically in their own countries”.
The Ecuador Embassy in India has, however, denied such claims.
“The Embassy of Ecuador categorically denies the statement, wherever published, that self-styled Guru Nithyananda was given asylum by Ecuador or has been helped by the government of Ecuador in purchasing any land or island in South America near or far from Ecuador,” the embassy told ThePrint in an e-mailed statement.
“All the information, whatever, which is published in digital and print media in India is based on the information which has been sourced from https://kailaasa.org , a website which is supposedly maintained by Mr. Nithyananda or his people, henceforth all media houses should refrain from citing Ecuador in any form in all pieces of information related to Mr. Nithyananda,” the statement added.
Also read: Nithyananda moves on to his own ‘Hindu nation’ Kailaasa but memories of his dark past haunt
But why Ecuador?
Ecuador remains one of the poorest countries in the continent of South America, like many other Latin American countries. Between December 2017 and June 2018, Ecuador has seen an increase in poverty to 24.5 per cent from 21.5 per cent, according to the country’s National Institute of Statistics and Census.
Even though the island nation is blessed with natural resources, with the Amazon forest, Andes mountains and Galapagos Islands, the country suffers from unequal distribution of wealth, hunger and corruption.
“This is one of the poorest countries of South America. They can do anything for money and publicity. Not just in Ecuador, but in any South American country, anything can be bought if you have deep pockets from getting a passport to buying an island,” said Amarendra Khatua, former Ambassador of India to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. “The rules are not strict there and for money and influence, they can do go to any extent in granting asylum to criminals. They are in a desperate situation.”
Khatua added, “Most of the times, these godmen have rich followers who are ready to pay any amount of money and countries like Ecuador, Belize and all, which do not have strict laws of the land.”
According to another website (www.nithyananda.org) run in the name of the fraudulent Godman, Nithayananda has been honoured with the Doctorate of Humanities by the Chancellor and Academic Council of the Commonwealth University – Belize.
Assange also sought asylum in Ecuador after he was accused of rape. In 2012, after the charges were levelled against him, Assange had gone and stayed inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, which he was forced to leave in May this year after being taken into custody by the London’s Metropolitan Police.
Another high-profile case was also linked to Ecuador. It relates to a New York-based individual Paul Ceglia, who had blackmailed Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg for money. Charged with fraud in 2012, Ceglia ran away to Ecuador. He was finally released in 2015 when Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno finally released him to the US authorities.
Of late, Ecuador has been witnessing unprecedented protests ever since the government there decided to do away with fuel subsidies. President Moreno believes it was the policies of his predecessor Rafael Correa, who is also from the ruling Alianza País party, that is making people angry.
Moreno recently said in an interview that Correa was instigating the protests in the country. He also said the “so-called socialists of the 21st century have plundered Latin America.”
Also read: How Indians get to US illegally — visa-free trip to Ecuador, trek through forest drug den