Bhubaneswar, July 21: Director of the IIT, Bhubaneswar R.V. Rajakumar today said he had never perceived any such activities during his days at the institute or at IIT, Kharagpur, nor did he know anything of that sort happening in other IITs.

The director's reaction came in the wake of the recent allegations, raised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), charging institutes like the IITs and the NITs were being turned into places for "anti-India and anti-Hindu" activities.

The RSS had mentioned that non-vegetarian food was being served at different IITs, including IIT, Roorkee "in the holy city of Haridwar".

The political group, in its mouthpiece, Organiser, had criticised how students at the NIT, Rourkela, were "stopped" from holding puja in the community hall, showing how "these government-funded institutes from tax payers' money were becoming a place for anti-Hindu activities".

"Students and staff members are free to practise their religious freedom and can have their functions on the campus but only in private," said Rajakumar.

Giving an example of how certain communities such as the Malayalee and Telugu community students and faculty usually got together to celebrate Onam or Ugadi, he said these groups were permitted use the institutes facility such as the halls and auditorium against a fee to hold the functions. "The institute, itself, never holds any functions on its own," he said. Institutes like the IIT, Khargpur, holds a variety of competitions such as the illumination contest on Diwali.