An old social media post, which claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is asking people to show their support for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) by giving a missed call to a specific number, has recently gone viral again.
The claim further states that 4 crore Muslims and 2 crore Christians have voted against the UCC and specifically urges Hindus to support the UCC by giving a missed call. BOOM found that the claim is false and it has been circulating since 2023.
The post, which is viral on Facebook says, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi to all of India. U.C.C. Uniform Civil Code. Wants to bring a Uniform Civil Code. For this, the citizens of the country have been asked to give their opinion. Already in two days 04 crore Muslims and 02 crore Christians have voted against UCC. Therefore, before the deadline, 6th July, all Hindus in the country are requested to vote in favor of the UCC. Please give missed call on 9090902024 to support UCC and save country. Your call will be recorded and acknowledged as support to UCC. Please share this information with all Hindus.”
The UCC Bill is a proposal to replace existing personal laws of India's religious communities such as Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, Christian Marriage Act, 1872, etc, with a common or equal set of rules governing all citizens.
Fact-check
BOOM found that the number (9090902024) is associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s 'Public Support through Public Relations' campaign which was conducted in 2023 and has no relation to the UCC.
The BJP, on June 29, 2023, had announced the launch of their ‘Jan Sampark Se Jan Samarthan’ campaign in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The post on X was shared with the caption, “9 years...Of service, good governance and welfare of the poor! To join the 'Public Support through Public Relations' campaign, give a missed call to 9090902024.”
We also ran a check of the number on Truecaller. While the name displayed for the number was "Uniform Civil Code Ucc Support," we found nearly 9,000 spam reports against it. Further, when we called the number, it rang for a second and then immediately disconnected.
According to a 2023 report by India Today, the number was released as a strategic move to increase the BJP’s support base, focusing on the 144 seats they had lost in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The report stated that party workers would carry out a missed call campaign across 10 lakh booths, urging voters to give a missed call to link them to the party's database.
Additionally, The Law Commission of India had also put out a notice cautioning people of the fraudulent WhatsApp text, messages and calls being circulated around the UCC. The Commission clarified that it had no involvement with the texts or calls.
In March 2024, the BJP campaigned in Karnataka to collect public suggestions for improving state policies, which were intended to be included in the party’s manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, The Hindu had reported. Besides posting their suggestions on the Namo app, people were also encouraged to give missed calls to the same number (9090902024).
The BJP, however, has listed the implementation of the UCC in their manifesto- Sankalp Patra, stating that it is necessary to realise the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’.
The manifesto states, “BJP believes that there cannot be gender equality till such time Bharat adopts a Uniform Civil Code, which protects the rights of all women, and the BJP reiterates its stand to draw a Uniform Civil Code, drawing upon the best traditions and harmonising them with the modern times.”
In February, this year, Uttarakhand became the first state to implement the UCC. While Assam and Gujarat are already in the process of passing the UCC Bill, other states such as Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have expressed intent in implementation of the Bill.