Guwahati: When Assam erupted in violent protests after the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by the Narendra Modi government in December 2019, it seemed like the issue would become the defining factor in the state assembly polls due less than 18 months away.

The Act, after all, impacted Assam the most — a state that has struggled with a deep-seated resentment against outsiders for decades. Ethnic identity has given birth to not just an entire movement in the state, but also a key regional political party.

CAA affects Assam particularly as it is the only state to have an updated National Register of Citizens (NRC), which identifies 19 lakh people as foreigners.

And yet, as Assam went to vote Saturday, CAA hardly seems to be an issue for the people of the state. In some ways, the question of ethnicity and indigenous inhabitants as a socio-political issue seems to have got diluted, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looking at a different kind of politics.

But the issue is more complex and there is no telling if this shift away from ethnic politics is merely a phase in Assam. The Opposition, meanwhile, is hoping there are undercurrents still, and the Congress has made the CAA its main poll plank.