PATNA: Bihar politician Lalu Yadav, a fierce critic of the RSS, credits his wife Rabri Devi for the organisation's big sartorial revamp from khaki shorts to trousers.

"We forced RSS members to wear trousers. Rabri Devi had pointed out that RSS men lack decency and culture. She said elderly cadre shamelessly roamed around freely in half-pants," Lalu Yadav told reporters. The RSS or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the ideological mentor of the ruling BJP. In step with the times, the organization yesterday ended a decades old tradition of flared khaki shorts and switched to dark brown trousers.

Taking credit for the transformation, Lalu Yadav tweeted that the organization would also soon change its mindset. "Next, we will work on getting their minds full," he jeered, adding: "Their thinking also needs transformation..."

Rabri Devi, a former chief minister of Bihar like her husband, had been criticized by top BJP leaders, including union ministers, for her comments in January at a party event. A senior BJP leader and Bihar's former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had even ridiculed her, saying, "She is a woman with a mindset of the 19th century."