India, Oct. 31 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel aspired to integrate the entirety of Kashmir into India just as he had successfully unified other princely states, but Jawaharlal Nehru prevented this from materialising.

"Sardar Patel believed that people should not waste time writing history but should instead work hard to create it," Modi told a gathering after a parade marking the 150th birth anniversary of Patel, India's first deputy prime minister, in Gujarat's Ekta Nagar.

He said Kashmir was divided and given a separate Constitution and flag. "The nation suffered for decades because of the Congress's mistake," said Modi after paying floral tributes to Patel at the Statue of Unity, a monume...