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Synthetic Miracle. Late last month, as Bhave turned over to police a batch of 20 dacoits, emotional India went on a jag: bar associations pledged to supply defense counsel without charge, and Bhave's womenfolk garlanded the prisoners with tinsel like so many heroes. Even India's President Prasad sent Bhave a message of congratulations: "The whole nation looks with hope and admiration at the manner in which you have been able to arouse better instincts." In all the hullabaloo, no one paid much attention to the fact that Lakhan Singh, No. 1 dacoit on the still-at-large list, had sent word that he preferred to take his chances on capture, or that another dacoit, after attending a Bhave prayer meeting, hustled off to commit a robbery less than three miles away.
But last week, sober second thoughts began to set in, and for the first time since he began his march around India nine years ago, Bhave found himself under heavy attack. Dryly, the Times of India noted that ten times as many dacoits had surrendered to police in the three years previous. From Madhya Pradesh Police Inspector-General K. F. Rustomji came the bitter charge that Bhave's criticisms of the police had weakened their morale and heartened the dacoits, with the result that the crime rate in the ravines was on the rise. In acid agreement, the Hindustan Times summed up: "If Bhave's mission was a miracle, it was a synthetic one, for whatever results have been achieved, the price has been disproportionately heavy."