The measure of governance is never in speeches, nor in the optics of ribbon-cutting ceremonies; it lies in the substance of delivery, in the ability of a government to anticipate, plan, and act in service of its people.

Nearly a year into the Omar Abdullah-led government’s tenure in Jammu and Kashmir, the reality that confronts the people is one of administrative paralysis, narrative-driven politics, and the appropriation of others’ work. What makes this drift all the more alarming is that it is accompanied by a carefully woven myth: that the Centre and the Lieutenant Governor (LG) have obstructed the functioning of the elected government. The truth, however, is that the stagnation of these past 11 months is not the result of external obstruction but of internal inertia.

It is worth underlining that in these 11 months, the Omar Abdullah government has not introduced a single scheme or initiative that could be called its own. No original policy has been articulated, no innovative idea has been pursued, and no reform has been attempted. What the public has witnessed instead is a series of inaugurations of projects that were not born of this government at all, but of the L-G administration that preceded it. One need only look at the examples to see the hollowness of the claims.

In April this year, Abdullah inaugurated a 120-bedded orthopaedic block at the Bone and Joint Hospital in Barzulla, Srinagar. Heralded by his government as a milestone for healthcare, the block was, in fact, conceived, sanctioned, and funded under the L-G administration in 2020, with work already in progress long before he assumed office. The act of inauguration was reduced to a photo-op, while the substance belonged elsewhere.

Similarly, in his home constituency of Ganderbal, Omar Abdullah cut ribbons on water supply schemes and an old-age home in........

© News18