Srilanka, Nov. 23 -- Namal Rajapaksa is again facing scrutiny over the educational qualifications he used to enter the Sri Lanka Law College. But at a gathering in Nugegoda on Friday, his supporters were unmoved. From former MPs to grassroots organisers from Dambadeniya, SLPP members said that these allegations were nothing new. Similar claims were made during the Yahapalanaya administration, they said, yet the investigations conducted between 2015 and 2019 produced no meaningful outcome.

Their argument is not without a basis. For nearly 15 years, various people and civil society groups have accused Rajapaksa of securing admission to the Law College without meeting the requisite qualifications, and of receiving preferential treatment dur...