Rahul Gandhi stands on the footboard of his car and waves to a crowd in front of the Congress office off CIT Road on Monday. Picture by Pabitra Das

Calcutta, Sept. 6: They did not understand the Hindi very well but did not need translators either. The speech meant that Rahul Gandhi was the future saviour of India.

Of Bengal too.

At Shahid Minar Maidan on Monday afternoon, Rahul, who was addressing a rally in Calcutta after a long gap, launched a direct attack on the CPM with a speech in Hindi that could appear insipid to a crowd used to the fireworks of Mamata Banerjee.

In a level voice, Rahul spoke of two Bengals, a Bengal of the CPM, of glitz and money, and another that is “yours and mine and of the poor”, and got rounds of applause, though the reproaches never rose to a crescendo of rhyme or crossed the decibel limit. Or hurled allegations of mass murder.

But to many in the 10,000-strong audience that braved hours of blazing sun, spells of rain, suffocating crowds and even fasting — for many were observing Ramazan — what Rahul said didn’t matter. Some didn’t even get to see him, being forced by the party minders to leave the grounds because it was time to take the bus home to their district towns.

To them, what mattered was that the “young Gandhi boy” who would one day be Prime Minister was here.

Kartik Biswas, 77, a resident of Chakda, is a veteran of Congress rallies. He has been a Congress supporter since the “two Bengals were divided”. He had heard Rajiv Gandhi speak, too. However, like Khushwant Singh, he thinks the son is better, though Biswas can’t exactly say why.

Biswas, who didn’t understand the Hindi speech, has seen decades of politics come to nothing but still finds hope in a young Gandhi. “He is the future Prime Minister of India. He is very young (Rajiv was 40 when he became Prime Minister; Rahul is already 40). Under his guidance, Bengal will return to its previous glory,” he said.

Biswas was in a hurry to return home with his neighbours Bishakha Pal and Kalpana De, with whom he had set off for Calcutta at 7am on a bus organised by the party. Bishakha and Kalpana loved the meeting, but didn’t understand what Rahul said. They don’t know Hindi, either.

The “previous glory” that Biswas mentioned could mean Congress rule. If Rahul is the future Prime Minister, his “keen interest” in the state already means something. “Rahul’s influence is a check on the popularity of the Trinamul Congress,” said Shaktipada Sau, the sabhapati of Chandrakona Block-2, West Midnapore.

Pradyumna Das of Pratapdighi in East Midnapore shook with anger as he spoke of what “they” had been doing to his village and to villagers’ property.

“But since Rahul Gandhi began to take an interest in Bengal, things have looked ready for change. The Youth Congress’s membership is on the rise,” Das said.

“He is better than Rajiv Gandhi,” Das too concluded.

Rahul may not know it but he is the answer to all of Bengal’s problems. Does Mamata know it?

Santu Mandal, however, doesn’t know who Rahul Gandhi is. The Class VI student from Mettalphaleya near Katwa waved a Congress banner and was very excited about his Calcutta trip. He knew he was attending a big Congress rally, for which he had left home at 9am. The rest didn’t interest him.