Paying rich tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 151st birth anniversary, defence minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday recalled how the ‘Iron Man of India’ firmly dealt with the Nizam and Razakars, who sought to challenge India’s sovereignty and “laid the foundation of a strong and united India”. On the issue of Kashmir, Rajnath said, “Sardar Patel himself had said that if Pandit Nehru had not intervened, he would have integrated Kashmir as easily as Hyderabad.”