The year 2019 began in the Northeast with protests against Centre’s move to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 and ended with protests after the Act was amended.

In January, people in thousands had hit the streets against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) that aimed at giving citizenship to non-Muslim persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries.

Respite came when the Centre did not table the citizenship bill in Rajya Sabha in February leading to its lapse. But it turned out to be momentary.

Ahead of April Lok Sabha elections, BJP national president Amit Shah vowed in Lakhimpur to pass the bill if the BJP returned to power.

The Northeast witnessed the BJP’s “divisive” policy as it kept pushing for the bill.

It kept the states with inner-line permits and Sixth Schedule areas out of the bill’s purview. By doing so the BJP succeeded in garnering support from states like Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya which were earlier opposed to the bill.

In Assam, BJP leaders, with cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at the forefront, kept advocating the bill.

This month, the Parliament passed the bill, making it the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

It triggered state-wide protests, resembling the anti-foreigners Assam Movement in the eighties.

Five persons died in suspected police firing.

The intensity of the protests prompted the government to take “unprecedented” measures like suspending Internet services and barring government employees from participating in “political activities”.

During the year, Assam also witnessed regional political party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), breaking off its coalition with the BJP in protest against the bill and re-forging coalition once the bill lapsed and keeping mum when the Parliament passed it this month, earning scathing criticism from different corners.

The anti-CAA protest seems unlikely to end soon.

The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which has been spearheading the anti-CAA protests along with 30 other organisations, has announced a series of protests next month.

“We are moving forward with the hope that the people of Assam will get the reward of their democratic protest. We are hopeful that the Centre will scrap the CAA next year,” said AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi. He added that the anti-CAA movement is expanding every passing day.

The update of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was another issue that kept Assam in the news.

In August, Assam got the updated NRC with 19.06 lakh people excluded.

Political parties like the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and the Congress, along with the All Assam Minorities Students Union (AAMSU) came out in its support while others like the ruling BJP, AASU and the first petitioner in the Supreme Court in the NRC-related case — Assam Public Works — expressed their dissatisfaction.

The fate of the 19.06 lakh people is still hanging in the balance as the NRC authorities are yet to issue rejection certificates to help them approach foreigners tribunals to file claims for citizenship.

Amidst these, in February, Assam was struck by a tragic incident where 150 people died after consuming spurious liquor in Golaghat and Jorhat districts.