New Delhi: In a veiled criticism of Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) trident and Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) 'lathi' campaign, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has said there was no place for violence and violent symbols in a Democracy.

"There is no place for violence in Democracy. Likewise, violent symbols should not be used in politics. I am hopeful that everybody will observe this," he said in an interview to "Sahara" group of publications.

He was asked a question about the distributions of tridents by VHP leader Praveen Togadia and 'lathis' by RJD's Laloo Prasad Yadav.

To a question on the criticism by sangh parivar of the government policies, Vajpayee said appreciation and criticism were part of life.

"Sometimes criticism is made because one is not aware of the full background and sometimes criticism is made deliberately. Without being affected by this, work should be done in the interest of the people and the nation," he said.

When asked which incident during his tenure as Prime Minister he would like to forget, Vajpayee replied, "The unfortunate incidents that occurred in Gujarat."

When his attention was drawn to his announcement that he would not contest the next elections and the Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's comments that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would fight the polls under his (Vajpayee's) leadership, the Prime Minister said at times he was saddened by the "unparliamentary incidents" in politics, but he was not an "escapist".

"As far as contesting elections is concerned, the party will decide," he added.

Rejecting the charge that his latest peace initiative was taken under US pressure, Vajpayee said, "India is a self-respecting nation. It does not work under the pressure of anybody. We keep our national interests uppermost and we are guided by them."

Expressing the hope that a solution to the Kashmir problem would be found, he said, "Peace will return there (J and K). I want to make it clear that our relations with Pakistan should not be viewed only keeping Kashmir in mind. Had Kashmir problem not been there, even then we would be having disputes with Pakistan.

Stressing that cross-border terrorism must come to an end, he said he had been saying that one could change his friends but not neighbours. "The sooner Pakistan realises this, the better for it," he said.

Asked as to why India took so much time in finalising its stand on the US invasion in Iraq and adopting a resolution in Parliament only after the war, Vajpayee said that national interests had to be kept in mind in matters related to foreign affairs. "Our stand was very clear from the beginning, but it was only a dispute of selection of some words (in the resolution)."

Asked to list the achievements of his first non-Congress government, which had completed five years, he said the five years in office was in itself an achievement. He listed making India a nuclear state and holding of peaceful and free and fair elections in J and K among several achievements.

It was good that the United States and other countries were fighting against terrorism and "our view is that terrorism should be eliminated from the whole world", Vajpayee said, adding "One thing is clear that we will have to fight our own battle and we are fighting."

To a question on what would be India's role in the changed situation after the Iraq war, Vajpayee said he had drawn attention of the whole world that UN's role had been minimised by the US action against Iraq.

India would intensify its efforts to restore the status of the UN and work for a balanced world order, he said.

PTI