Just one week after it voted to award Latvian citizenship to Indian scientist Divya Kannan Vishwanath, Latvia's parliament, the Saeima, performed a massive U-turn and voted to revoke her citizenship on October 22nd.
The decision was reversed following public doubts about her qualifications and the basis for granting citizenship, as well as a statement issued by President Edgars Rinkēvičs on Wednesday, in which he called for the removal of doubts on this issue and for the law to be reviewed if necessary.
The Saeima granted citizenship to Vishwanath on October 15, highlighting her contribution to the development of science, pharmacy, entrepreneurship and innovation. This was done as a matter of urgency, by adopting the law "On the Recognition of Divya Kannan Vishwanath as a Citizen of Latvia".
Later, posts appeared on social media suggesting that Vishwanath may have provided false information about her academic record.
The repeal was initiated by both the New Unity and National Alliance political parties. However, the Legal Committee found technical shortcomings in the submitted proposal and prepared an alternative bill, which the deputies adopted.
Edmunds Jurēvics, the leader of the New Unity faction, said in the debate that mistakes must be acknowledged and corrected, and personally apologized for the previous decision. He emphasized that citizenship is not a gift, and noted that Latvian scientists have also expressed concerns about Vishwanath.
In turn, Artūrs Butāns, deputy leader of the National Alliance parliamentary faction, pointed out that the party had not supported granting citizenship the first time around. In his opinion, neither Viswanath's motivation for obtaining citizenship nor the justification for granting it through a separate law, rather than through naturalization, is sufficiently clear.
President Edgars Rinkēvičs said he approved of the repeal of the law
"Thank you to the Saeima for its prompt action in dispelling doubts in this case. The granting of citizenship should be assessed with the utmost care," Rinkēvičs said on social media sites.
On October 23rd he appeared on Latvian Television's 'Morning Panorama' news show and expanded on his social media postings, saying he hopes that the next Saeima will end the practice of making decisions on granting Latvian citizenship as a matter of urgency. In his opinion, Latvian citizenship should only be granted in very exclusive cases. A person who receives citizenship should also partially meet the requirements of people who become citizens through the normal route of naturalization, he suggested. Namely, the person should know some Latvian language, have lived in Latvia for a certain number of years, and have far-reaching goals that are important to Latvia.
The National Alliance also proposed making public the audio recording and transcript of the closed session of the Citizenship, Migration and Social Cohesion Committee on October 14th which discussed the matter. Butāns emphasized that the public should know the arguments of the deputies.
Butāns said: "In our opinion, the way in which this particular citizenship is granted is absurd and unacceptable. These sessions should not be closed, therefore we also encourage openness for these sessions, and also for the audio recording and transcript of the specific session to be published."
The Saeima referred the issue of making the recording of the meeting public to the responsible committee on Thursday.
It also needs to be established whether the Latvian Academy of Sciences may have misled the Saeima in its support for Vishwanath's application.
Photo: Foto: Ieva Ābele-Ozoliņa, Saeima
Divya Kannan Vishwanath is congratulated on becoming a Latvian citizen
The Latvian Academy of Sciences had addressed the Saeima with a letter of recommendation for granting Latvian citizenship to Indian citizen Viswanatha. The duty of the Latvian Academy of Sciences is to promptly advise the Saeima on scientific matters, therefore, the people's representatives in the Saeima had reason to rely on the recommendations of the Latvian Academy of Sciences in matters of scientific activity, an annotation says.
Gunārs Kūtris, the head of the Citizenship, Migration and Social Cohesion Committee from the Greens and Farmers Alliance, spoke out against the revocation in the Saeima debate. He called it a decision based on rumors and a lynch mob.
Kūtris stressed that the deputies have been able to evaluate the documents since June. The commission also relied on the recommendation of the Latvian Academy of Sciences and the intention to develop research and pharmaceutical production in Latvia. After publicly expressed doubts, Viswanath also submitted a list of her publications. Kūtris insists that the commission has no facts about false information.
Kūtris expressed: "What was given to the commission that was false? Understand, we do not have a single fact that would cast doubt on her scientific activity. The diplomas are confirmed with the "Apostille" stamp. The degree is. The degree is a reliably certified document at Berkeley University. She was invited to a research programme. I do not believe that they would invite a person without a degree, without achievements in the specified field. So in this area we are confident that everything is in order there in scientific activity."
Vishwanath herself has previously rejected accusations about her qualifications and the basis for granting citizenship, emphasizing that the documents submitted to the Saeima are true and verified.
Meanwhile, more than 70 members of the Latvian Academy of Sciences have appealed to the academy's president, Ivars Kalviņš, demanding an explanation for what happened. Kalviņš was sitting alongside Vishwanath when Saeima voted to award her citizenship and was first to congratulate her.
"How can trust be restored? I see only three outcomes. The first is that Mr. Kalviņš assumes moral and political responsibility for the serious consequences for the reputation of Latvian science and the state, and resigns from the position of president. Or he calls a vote of confidence in which every academician can express their attitude. If he passes the vote of confidence, then it will be a signal that this is no longer the organization in which, say, people like me and some of my associates would like to be in the future," said Vjačeslavs Kaščejevs, a full member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences.
Ivars Kalviņš told LTV "Panorāma" that after the incident, he had approached the academy's presidium. A presidium meeting was held, at which it was concluded that Kalviņš, in making a recommendation to grant citizenship to Viswanathan, had acted in accordance with the powers specified in the statutes of the Academy of Sciences.