Here’s one image that will haunt the country’s principal opposition party for a long time to come: BJP president Rajnath Singh turning out in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s trademark khaki shorts, sitting demurely in the presence of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

It is not uncommon to see BJP leaders in that attire, but it’s a big deal when a BJP president is preening in his Sangh colours in public.

It is a big deal because Rajnath’s dress code and demeanour suggested a sheepish capitulation of a person who is heading the country’s second biggest political party that runs governments in seven states.

BJP leaders have often shared the dais with the RSS leadership. As a student in Lucknow, I recall seeing AB Vajpayee at a meeting of Balasaheb Deoras at the Hazratmahal Park. Vajpayee turned out in his trademark attire, the only white dhoti in a see of khaki shorts. “Arre, if I had known that all of you were coming in khakis, I would have also come in “ganvesh” (traditional RSS dress code),” he told the audience which cheered him lustily.

Rubbish. It was an RSS meeting, there was no way Vajpayee thought the cadre would turn up in anything but the dress code. Vajpayee obviously sought to underline the thin, fine line separating the Sangh from the BJP while telling the audience, I’m one of you, but not exactly you. Vajpayee knew how to keep the RSS at a safe distance without severing the umbilical chord.

Many years later, I was reporting Vajpayee’s election campaign in Marathwada (1996). While doing dinner with him one evening in Aurangabad, a local RSS man enquired of Vajpayee’s assistant if the PM-candidate would attend the RSS shakha (morning drill) at dawn. Vajpayee’s answer was a firm no” “Tell him I have other things to do”. Never once in his entire tour did Vajpayee go to any RSS function. Vajpayee knew only too well the consequences of associating with the RSS in a maratha dominated region in poll time. It was a measure of his maturity and moral authority that he could keep his independence.

Like Vajpayee, LK Advani and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat never allowed the BJP’s identity to be merged irrevocably with the Sangh and its brand of politics. Till the time Advani drove to Keshavkunj last month to pay obeisance to Mohan Bhagwat, he was regarded as the main votary of upholding the BJP’s autonomy.

But this Rajnath-in-khakis image makes autonomy seem like a distant dream. It conveys an unambiguous message that the real power lies with the RSS. And the most dangerous aspect of this drama is that the RSS is accountable to none.