Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday paid tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 145th birth anniversary.
"I remember and bow before the country's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who shaped the country into a thread of unity on his birth anniversary. Today we all need to reiterate this resolve to dedicate oneself towards maintaining the unity, integrity and security of the nation," Rajnath Singh said in a tweet in Hindi.
Since 2014, October 31 is observed as National Unity Day. Sardar Patel is credited with uniting all 562 princely states of the pre-independent country to build the Republic of India.
Meanwhile, President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal paid tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in New Delhi.
(ANI)
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