Shillong, April 13: Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma on Wednesday opined that there is indeed nothing wrong with learning hindi or any other language as it always comes in handy but it should not be forced onto people.

He was reacting to the Centre’s decision to make Hindi subject compulsory for students upto Class X.

At the same time, also referring to the statement of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma for trying to defend the government’s decision by saying one should learn Hindi, Dr. Sangma said, “But who is stopping people from learning Hindi. Nobody is stopping anybody from learning other languages whether it is German or French, I mean language always come in handy so people will find a way to learn other languages.”

The former chief minister also admitted he too had studied Hindi in school but recollects “we used to have Hindi classes in the schools but it is never meant to be a compulsory subject.”

“Therefore, today if you look at our youth across the country, even our people who are not from Hindi speaking states, (they) do speak Hindi and this is a very good trend. Now people will find a way to learn a language and equip themselves with multiple languages – it is always going to be advantageous for someone to know multiple languages but then it doesn’t mean you should force everyone to learn it,” he asserted.

He, however, condemned the Centre’s attempt to forcefully impose Hindi as a compulsory subject up to class X in Meghalaya and other North eastern states, without taking the overall sentiments of the people into account.

He expressed that it is very important to understand, honour and respect sentiments of people belonging to different communities, different groups from linguistic perspective and that is precisely what is provided in the Constitution of India.

“Therefore keeping in mind this overall usual reaction from people I think they should have articulated it properly what is likely going to be the view of the people. As I said, the government only represent people, they should have articulated what is likely the feeling of the people of the state by the respective governments which has not happened,” he said.