"At the stroke of the midnight hour, the Indian women’s team made their own tryst with destiny."
These words, by Jatin Sapru, a noted cricket commentator, encapsulate India's huge win in ICC Women's World Cup. The victory has made headlines and so has another name, that of the star batter, Jemimah Rodrigues. Yet, what's missing in those headlines is the right-wing vitriol against her and her faith.
On 2 November, in DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai, after India's openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma laid a strong foundation, then came Jemimah. The tensions in the stadium were palpable. On 24 runs, her journey in the game was cut short by South Africa's captain Laura Wolvaardt. Still, she did a fine job in building the middle-overs.
It is no news that there has been targeted gendered trolling of our women cricketers online, case in point, the ‘go back to your kitchen’ posts among other sexist jokes.
However, right-wing accounts, several verified ones too have gone a step ahead and continued to attack Jemimah for belonging to and affirming her Christian faith.
The hate against Jemimah was widespread last night and had been brewing since they won the semi-finals three days ago. She smashed an unbeaten 127 against Australia and helped India enter the finals. "Towards the end, I was just quoting a scripture from the Bible - to just stand still and that God will fight for me," said an emotionally drained Rodrigues.
Jemimah also said, “Firstly, I want to thank Jesus. I could not do this on my own, I know he carried me through today. I want to thank my mom, dad, my coach and every single person who believed in me throughout this time.”
And then came the trolls. Verified accounts, behaving no less than a troll, also joined in, furious that she thanked her God.
The online vitriol did not stop as more right-wing accounts joined to mock Jemimah for her faith. The act, meant to not just dismiss and trivialise her brilliance on the cricket field, but also to reduce her to her religious identity and discredit her achievements.
Nonetheless, Jemimah did not take it lying down.
After the semi-finals win, Jemimah's Instagram post showed that despite the hateful comments, she asserted her faith unapologetically, instead of staying silent. In her caption, she wrote, “This is God, he is faithful,” followed by a poem, expressing her faith and strength she draws from it.
Her own belief in her God — even though other Indian cricketers have professed theirs over the years — became an invite for more accounts to abuse her online. “S**li ricebag ch*t*** aurat,” one commented online.
‘Where is Jesus Today?’ Trolls Come Full Throttle
Amid a hateful campaign against Jemimah online, was an account of former Flight Lieutenant Anoop Verma, as per his bio on X.
"Jesus didn't help today," he wrote. Shortly after, he deleted his post. But he gave his justification in replies to several tweets, saying that Jemimah "glorified her faith."
"Jesus is on a holiday today." Such posts were made by other right-wing handles, such as the 'Hindutva Knight' and 'The Jaipur Dialogues' also mocked Jemimah and her faith, drawing a lot of traction.
These targeted attacks are concerning and they also beget the question: Why has the BCCI not taken any action yet or come up with a statement to shield Jemimah?
Similar posts were made on Facebook by a user who said that Jemimah "must be reading something silently and will give all the credit to Jesus."
Facebook post attacking Jemimah.
(Photo: Facebook)
'Conversion' Claims & Cancelation of Gymkhana Membership
The hate is not new for Jemimah or her family.
Last year, one of the oldest clubs of Mumbai, Khar Gymkhana terminated Jemimah's membership, following allegations that her father, Ivan Rodrigues booked a club hall for "religious conversion" activities.
A managing committee member and former vice-president of the club, Shiv Malhotra also said, "Though Jemimah was granted the membership, her father exploited this privilege by booking the banquet hall for meetings related to religious conversions."
However, the president of the Gymkhana, Vivek Devnani denied the allegations and accused rivals of indulging in politics ahead of the club's elections. Devnani said that the honorary three-year membership was revoked after a resolution was passed at a general meeting.
Calling out the misinformation, Ivan put out a statement and clarified that facilities of the gymkhana were used for prayer meetings in accordance with the protocols and no 'conversion meetings' were carried out.
A year later, the 25 year-old stands tall as a World Cup champion. From a 12 year-old making her U-19 state team debut, to being an international name to be reckoned with. Former captain of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli said she had a "standout performance" in the game.
What the trolls seem to miss is that the World Cup trophy is ours because of players like her, and that it belongs to our cricket team, to India as much as it belongs to the woman named Jemimah Rodrigues.