The education ministry abruptly withdrew German as an optional third language in government schools, and replaced it with Sanskrit. And the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a volunteer organization modeled on the fascist groups of the 1920s – complete with khaki shorts and staves – declared a campaign of Ghar wapasi (“return home”), or reconversion of minorities to the Hinduism from which their ancestors had allegedly lapsed in the distant past.