Patna, Oct. 8: Almost 37 years later, followers of late Jayaprakash Narayan gave his residence a skip on the occasion of his death anniversary on Saturday.

Located at Kadamkuan in Patna, the gates of the house were locked and wore a deserted look. The house was the epicentre of the JP-led student movement in the 1970s and the place where the leader died on October 8, 1979.

It is maintained by Mahila Charkha Samiti - an organisation set up by him to promote Mahatma Gandhi's vision of making homemade clothes and food.

"Nobody came. We, however, prayed in the morning," remarked an elderly woman, adding that the gates of the house were shut around 9.30am. Earlier, virtually every leader such as Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi made it a point to visit the house to offer floral tributes to the late leader and their mentor.

"Perhaps they will all come on October 11, his birth anniversary," said the woman. The low-key affair has surprised many. During the election campaign last year, the BJP tried to make the RJD and JDU leaders' disconnect with JP's ideology, an issue. Union minister Rajeev Pratap Rudy had visited Sitabdiara - the ancestral village of JP in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP slammed the RJD and the JDU for betraying JP, as the leader led a campaign against the Congress. Nitish and Lalu, who claimed to be political inheritors of JP's legacy, have joined hands with the Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also raised the issue in several election rallies.

The death anniversary of JP, however, was observed in other places. RJD state chief Ram Chandra Purbey observed the day at the party office in the presence of a small gathering. No prominent RJD leader or minister was present though.

Purbey said JP's struggle to bring about a change in system is relevant even today. The JDU observed the day in Delhi.