When Mr Varukuppala Idayya killed himself in his cotton field, which had yielded little else but despair, the 40-year-old looked set to become just another figure in India's mounting statistics of debt-laden farmers driven to suicide each year.

But nearly three years later, his presence was prominent at a large rally, with his distinctive framed photo held aloft along New Delhi's broad avenues by his widow, Ms V. Idamma.