Making it clear violence has no place in a democracy and that the killing of innocents leads to nowhere, Home Minister Rajnath Singh today asked the Naxals to abjure violence and join the mainstream.

Addressing the 75th raising day of CRPF, Singh said that Mao Zedong's ideology, which is being followed by the CPI (Maoist) in India, is forgotten even in China, the country where he had founded the Communist state.

"But here (in India) you (Naxals) are killing your innocent countrymen by following that ideology. I would like to appeal to the Naxals to shun violence.

"Our democratic values are very strong. I would like to ask them to change the power through democracy and not by guns," he said after taking the salute at an impressive parade by CRPF personnel.