A Plea for India Poem Summary Notes and Line by Line Explanation in English Class 10th

Introduction 

In the poem ‘The Plea for India’ the poet recalls the glory of our nation that stands strong and trivial matters like religion, caste, and personal interests should be ignored to maintain peace and progress.

About the poet

The poet is unknown.

Stanza 1

We, Indians, are proud to be a strong nation,
our roots, we declare , cannot be shaken.
Then why these fights,
which leave us in poor plight?
Irrespective of our region,
forget the castes,
which makes us lose our charm.

The poet says that as Indians we feel proud to be a part of a great and strong nation. We proclaim that our deep-rooted race and culture are too strong to be shaken by anyone. If this is so then one must not fight and quarrel over petty issues. These fights will portray our nation in a bad light as compared to other nations. We are proud to be a pluralistic society composed of varied regions, religions, languages, castes, and creeds. The beauty of this unique culture of our nation will lose its charm if we try to disintegrate the country in the name of a region, religion, languages, castes, etc. 

Stanza 2

Let's ignore the selfish call of each region,
and listen for once to the call of the nation.
Why do we spend our time bickering
when so many tasks need finishing?
Don't we have better things to do
than indulge in creating problems anew?
Is all this violence needed
with the people being cheated?

We should not heed to selfish motives of some people who want to disintegrate the nation. We have a lot to do for the development of the nation rather than engage in meaningless arguments about separating the nation into different regions that will put us into new problems. The people are mislead into unnecessary violence by some people with selfish motives. The violence will only lead to loss of life and property.

Stanza 3

Who will return this only son
whom she loves a ton?
Who will bring back his brother
whose ashes he is still to gather?
Where has all the love gone
which resided in the heart of all?
There is no reason to be proud,
and be on high cloud.

Some mother’s sons and sister’s brothers will be lost in violence and no one can ever bring them back to life. The poet laments for the love which kept us united as a nation has gone. 

Stanza 4

We have to go a long way,
we have to think seriously,
else we end up miserably.
Then let our minds throw out the rot,
and devote our time to pious thoughts.
Let us control the riots,
which leave us with no choice,
but to hang our heads in shame,
and say we have miserably failed.

We have to think seriously about the problem and find a solution otherwise we will fail miserably in our duty to the nation of which we feel so proud.

Stanza 5

We have the power to win,
so why not end this din?
Let us unite,
and fight against those who incite.
Let us not be misled,
by those who want to see us dead.
We are a strong united nation,
all we need is a bit of dedication.

The poet further appeals to all Indians that they should leave all the rotten thoughts of disintegrating the nation and devote their minds to pious thoughts for the development of a nation.