Insight - Modi's popularity in rural India punctured by discontent, suicides

A farmer stands in his wheat field, which was damaged by unseasonal rains, at Vaidi village in Uttar Pradesh, March 25, 2015. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee

VAIDI, India (Reuters) - Over a dozen debt-laden farmers have committed suicide in recent weeks in India, and discontent in many rural areas against government policies is turning into anger against Prime Minister Narendra Modi less than a year after he swept into office.

Unseasonal storms have badly damaged the winter crop in large parts of the fertile northern plains, most likely contributing to the suicides, and villagers have blamed Modi for not stepping in to help the distressed farmers or ensuring that crop prices remained stable.