Among its other priorities was its belief that India had a large number of illegal Muslim immigrants. The BJP government completed an effort to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state of Assam.[40][41][42] The stated aim of this exercise was to identify illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh, a Muslim majority country.[41] Commentators said it was an effort to target Muslim migrants.[41] The updated register was made public in August 2019; approximately 1.9 million residents were not on the list, and were in danger of losing their citizenship.[40][41][42] A majority of those affected were Bengali Hindus, who constitute a major voter base for the BJP. Shortly before the publication of the register, the BJP withdrew its support for the entire exercise.[43]