Recently, Jo Chopra McGowan, a Director of a rather unremarkable NGO Latika Roy Foundation, came under the spotlight for propagating canards about the Uttarakhand government in order to malign Hindus. In a Twitter post, McGowan, who is a US citizen, proclaimed that the Uttarakhand government had banned Christmas celebrations in the state.
In a classic example of how the left-liberal intelligentsia has always spread hatred maligning Hindus, the NGO founder had Tweeted on December 25: “Shopping yesterday in Dehradun – this state where #Christmas has been banned. In every shop, every person I met greeted me with a smile and a “Merry Christmas, Ma’am”. Sorry, #Hindutva. You can’t win. Indians are too open, too kind, too cool for your silly agenda of hate.”
As it turned out, the lies peddled by McGowan were promptly called out by the Uttarakhand police as well as several users on Twitter. Spooked by reactions to her deceitful post and possibly fearing police action, McGowan removed the tweet and issued an apology, though it appeared insincere and not rooted in genuine remorse.
Jo Chopra’s husband Ravi Chopra headed China-related committee while receiving donations from China, Twitter user alleges
Amidst the brouhaha over McGowan’s patently misleading post defaming the Uttarakhand government, stark details pertaining to the NGO director and her family have come to the fore. According to a Twitter user who goes by the handle @vijaygajera, McGowan, who routinely peddles anti-Modi propaganda, receives funding for her NGO from foreign countries, including China.
Interestingly, Jo Chopra and her husband Ravi Chopra both run separate NGOs and receive funding from foreign countries. Their son is married into a Chinese family, Vijay said in a Twitter thread posted by him detailing the shenanigans of the NGO director and her husband.
While receiving foreign funding, including that from China, is not unusual, what raises eyebrows is the fact that Ravi Chopra headed two govt-appointed committees, one of them related to road construction in a border state with China.
In a subsequent tweet, Patel said Ravi Chopra was appointed head of the committee on the Chardham Road project, adding that he was against the proposed idea of broadening the width of the road, whereas in his committee 12 people were in support of a 12-meter wide road.
Chopra also headed a committee on hydropower plants in Uttarakhand and had recommended dropping them in a report submitted in Supreme Court in 2014.
At a time when China is rapidly building infrastructure along its border with India and hostilities between the two countries are at an all-time high, the Supreme Court had appointed Ravi Chopra as head of the committee dealing on matters related to China, said Patel, highlighting funding he receives from China and his son’s Chinese connections.
Besides, Ravi Chopra is also a part of the leftist cabal that includes the likes of Harsh Mander, Prashant Bhushan, Teesta Setalvad etc. Ravi Chopra was one of the many signatories to a petition floated by leftists against the Central government. Chopra was also among the signatories who urged the Supreme Court to reconsider contempt proceedings against Prashant Bhushan.
Patel further claims that when the BJP-led government started their work towards national security and stopped giving him importance, the leftist media organisation took the initiative of promoting Ravi Chopra as the Chairperson of the Char Dham Pariyojana.
Jo Chopra had fuelled misapprehensions about CAA, urged protesters to join anti-CAA insurrection
In addition to this, Ravi Chopra’s wife, Jo Chopra, has also peddled misapprehensions about the Citizenship Amendment Act, driving a wedge between different religions and stoking unfounded fears that CAA would disenfranchise Muslims.
It is also notable to mention that Jo Chopra McGowan, who lied that Christmas festivities are prohibited in Uttarakhand, is a US citizen. But this did not stop McGowan from fanning misgivings about the Citizenship Amendment Act that enables fast track the citizenship process of religious persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India as refugees on or before December 31, 2014.
Uttarakhand Police responds to fake news peddled by US citizen and NGO director Jo Chopra
Earlier yesterday, after Jo Chopra peddled fake news about Christmas celebrations being banned in Uttarakhand, the state police took to Twitter to refute allegations levelled by the Latika Roy Foundation director. Through the official Twitter handle, the Uttarakhand police wrote in Hindi which roughly translated as: “Nowhere in the state was there a prohibition on the Christmas festival. This event has been enthusiastically celebrated by the Christian brethren throughout the state. It is an appeal to all of you not to pay heed to the rumours that are tainted by such religious malpractices. Here, in the state of Uttarakhand, as per the Constitution of India, all religions are respected equally.”
Uttarakhand Police’s tweet was in response to the fake news concocted by Jo Chopra where she alleged that Christmas is banned in Uttarakhand so that she could accuse the Hindus of being intolerant towards people of other communities. Her shenanigans, however, did not go unnoticed. Soon after Jo Chopra took to Twitter to spew venom on Hinduism by spreading the fake news, several Twitter users called her out for defaming Hindus and asked her to immediately delete her Tweet and render an apology.