Mumbai, Dec 5 (IANS): Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) President Prakash Ambedkar on Tuesday warned that the parliamentary system in India is in peril and all those who can oppose the Bharatiya Janata Party-RSS must join hands to save democracy in the country.

Ambedkar, the grandson of the chief architect of Indian Constitution Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, along with Vice-President Rekha Thakur and other senior leaders said that parliamentary democracy has empowered the common masses of the country and gives equal representation to people from all walks of life.

"It is because of the parliamentary democratic system that the leader of any small regional party is enabled to become the Chief Minister of that state. If parliamentary democracy survives, then the political parties will exist and the power of the people will remain," Ambedkar pointed out.

Addressing the media after the VBA Core Committee meeting to discuss the strategies for the upcoming 2024 elections, he warned that in case the parliamentary system is replaced with a presidential system, then power will go to the hands of a limited few people from the upper castes.

To guard against this, all the parties which are in a position to challenge the BJP-RSS should units and contest the 2024 elections jointly to safeguard parliamentary democracy, he urged, against the backdrop of the just-declared poll outcome in the five states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram – with the BJP bagging three states.

Referring to the 11-month alliance with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally Shiv Sena-UBT headed by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Ambedkar said that so far the latter has not broached the topic of seat-sharing with the MVA.

Accordingly, even the Shiv Sena-UBT and VBA also cannot discuss any seat-distribution between themselves, he pointed out, on the purported delays on the issue vis-a-vis the MVA and INDIA.

However, Ambedkar reiterated that "the ball is now in the Shiv Sena-UBT's court", making it clear that unless they take a decision on seat-sharing soon, "then the VBA will contest all the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra independently".