J&K Assembly’s brief session proves the timeless parable in living colour
There was important work to do. Everybody thought Somebody would handle it. Anybody could have done it. Nobody did. Everybody blames Somebody. Nobody asks Anybody. Result: nothing accomplished. Jammu & Kashmir’s Assembly session last week embodied this parable with depressing precision. The job was governance. The outcome was predictable. Everybody: NC government, BJP, PDP, independents entered claiming mandate. Everybody promised restoration, development, accountability. Somebody: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah — opened with assurances of statehood progress, water projects, unemployment solutions. Somebody convened the session. Anybody: backbenchers, committees, even opposition leaders — could have demanded clarity on 370,000 unemployed youth, Ayushman Bharat’s collapse, or ₹15,120 crore in idle development funds. Anybody could have moved resolutions, called CAG audits, questioned teacher salary protests. Nobody did. Zero resolutions on statehood timeline. Zero committees for healthcare crisis. Zero motions for teacher regularisation. Zero substantive questions on wasteful spending. Instead: adjournments, walkouts, procedural theatre. Omar Abdullah promised “new dawn.” PDP’s Waheed Para called budget “anti-people.” BJP’s Sunil Sharma demanded “real development.” Everybody spoke. Nobody delivered. Citizens watched — teachers marching for salaries, patients denied care, youth scrolling empty job portals. They needed policy, not posturing. The ethical failure transcends partisanship. Democratic assemblies exist for collective responsibility, not individual performance. When Everybody participates but Nobody prioritises, governance becomes theatre. Walkouts evade scrutiny. Soundbites replace substance. Press releases substitute for progress. J&K cannot afford this parable enacted annually. Teachers striking for regularisation deserve hearings, not headlines. Patients facing hospital crises need oversight, not optics. Unemployed youth require job plans, not job promises. Tomorrow’s newspaper carries identical stories: protests unresolved, hospitals understaffed, development funds unspent. The job remains undone because Everybody assumes Somebody else owns it. Assembly reconvenes soon. Citizens deserve better than parable. They deserve governance. Somebody stepping forward so Anybody can hold them accountable. Until then, J&K remains governed by Nobody.
