Lucknow, Dec 15: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday paid rich tributes to the first Home Minister of the country, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel on his 70th death anniversary describing him as the 'architect' of united India in true sense. It was Sardar Patel who provided India, an impregnable shield of unity and integrity.

When the country witnessed the uprise of the freedom struggle, Britishers had come to realise that it would not be easy to keep India under their flag for long. At this point of time, they employed their nefarious designs to disintegrate India. It was Sardar Patel who played a crucial role in foiling the iniquitous intentions of them for which we should always remain indebted to him, the CM said while speaking at GPO park here in the state capital where he paid floral tributes at his statue. Yogi Adityanath Announces 5% Reservation for Ex-Servicemen in Group B Posts.

Pointing out that the country may have been fragmented into political identities during different time-frames but it always represented the one common cultural history from Mountains in the North to sea in the South. " Sardar Patel, in fact, anchored the very thought of oneness and united and integrated cultural ethos and sense of nationality,'' he revered.

CM Yogi said that like ups and downs in individual lives, India , despite being a strong unit since Vedic period, also saw foreign invasion from time to time. It also came under foreign rule but the leaders like Patel always instilled in us the sense of pride and nationality which even today has kept our country united.

He said Sardar Patel never wanted any division or partition and he had his role to repulse all attempts to divide the country. " We owe him a lot for giving what we have today in the form of strong and united India and the feeling of patriotism instilled in us to the core,'' he said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 15, 2020 03:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).