Day to mark days

March 23 was a busy day for politicians and diplomats alike. For politicians, it was martyrs' day as they competed to lay claim to the legacy of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev who were hanged on this day in 1931. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal unveiled their statues, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a drive to appropriate the memory of the trio to its cause of nationalism. In Hyderabad, student leader Kanhaiya Kumar likened the mother of Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide in January, to that of Bhagat Singh's mother. The Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh celebrated the birth anniversary of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia. Several BJP leaders also tweeted birthday wishes to Union Minister Smriti Irani, who turned 40. And diplomats queued up to attend a dinner by the Pakistan High Commission to celebrate Pakistan's National Day.