A very stringent anti-conversion law that will ensure zero religious conversions in Maharashtra will be enacted once the Mahayuti comes to power… (Times of India, November 11)

Was driving down a silent road when I heard the sound of loud music and found another car drawing up close, with windows down and music on full blast. Suddenly, the peace I was enjoying was broken by the cacophony of noise, and as the car drew abreast, I found people laughing, jeering, and scoffing at those outside!

The sound from the other car was garish. It's not that I disliked their songs, but the volume was meant to disrupt, meant to intrude, and cause disharmony and tension.

The car passed, and slowly, the sound grew less.

I looked at my music system. It was undoubtedly the best. If I had wanted to, I could have out-drowned the noise from the other car, but I had chosen to let them move on.

Today, as the rhetoric increases in the country, as ministers who should govern, instead, threaten and provoke so they can win a few more votes from the unsuspecting people, I feel we need to look at our powerful music systems and realise the energy and volume they carry, even though today, we choose to be silent.

That music system is the power of our Voting Finger, which, with one sonic blast of sound, can put any other loud noise to rest. But that is not its way.

Its method is to allow the ones who shout and mock, jeer and threaten to continue doing what they are good at and then, in silence on voting day, show its majesty and dominion.

Look at those who drove in the car with the loud noise. Why did they want their music so loud that their own eardrums could have exploded?

Why couldn't they have listened to their music with the windows closed and still enjoyed the volume without others outside disrupting their quietness?

Why?

Because they wanted to provoke the silence outside.

Today, the ones who provoke make the loudest noise.

And what is the provocation we hear from our politicians today?

Offering protection against imaginary foes, who they tell the people will steal their religion from them. Protection against menfolk from other communities who will steal their womenfolk from them.

The loud noise I heard in the quietness of the night was that of bullies telling others outside how powerful they were through the noise they made.

But was that noise required?

Wasn't there peace and quiet, calm and tranquillity outside?

And that is what the 'voting finger' needs to realise; that there is no enemy to fear from whom you and I need protection.

Don't get moved by the loud music; instead, ask relevant questions. Ask about cheaper food, affordable housing, money for clothes to cover yourselves and why this disturbing inflation.

The real power is ours, as long as we don't give in to the garish music…!