It appears that the City of Fall River was duped by a nation that doesn’t exist, but we are far from alone

It appears the City of Fall River was duped by a nation that doesn’t exist, but the Scholarship City is far from the only one.

Mayor Coogan signed a proclamation in January of 2022 claiming January 3rd as “Kailasa’s SPH Nithyananda Day”.

According to CBS News, “Kailasa” despite having a website, is not a real nation. It’s the brainchild of Swami Nithyananda who is a notorious scam artist and fugitive from India who has been running from rape charges since 2019.

Fall River is far from being alone in falling for the non-existent country.

A few dozen cities in the United States have fallen for the scam so far with the petitions shared proudly on the fake country’s website. One U.S. city fell so hard for the scam that they held a ceremony to be the sister city of “Kailasa”.

Earlier this year, Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka invited what he believed was the Hindu nation of Kailasa to City Hall for a cultural trade agreement. A few days after the agreement was signed, the City Council rescinded the agreement in embarrassment.

Residents of Newark wondered why nobody at City Hall did a Google search.

Mayor Coogan’s Office issued the following response as far as the Fall River case is concerned.

“In January of 2022, a staff member responded to multiple requests for a proclamation acknowledging “KAILASA’s SPH Nithyananda Day”. Requests like these are standard and proclamations hold no legal or financial significance, so they are often accommodated. The individual requesting the proclamation had listed around 50 other communities/elected officials- ranging from municipalities to U.S. Senators to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau- who had already issued similar proclamations.”

“The same individual reached out again last summer to request sister-city status with Fall River. After further research, the request was denied. A request for a second proclamation was sent to us in December of 2022, which was also denied.”

“The City regrets the issuance of the first proclamation, but refused all subsequent requests after the office learned about “Kailasa” and Nithyananda.”