Let me hope there will be no war, no emergency. I am for peace in India and peace in the world. But supposing an emergency unfortunately arises, who suffers ? The people. The people have to suffer and supply goods at controlled prices as they did between 1939 and 1947. What does inflation mean ? It means that the provincial governments and the people can not make both ends meet, and if a new Finance Minister is extra-ambitious he may begin taking all the resources of the provinces by asking the President to exercise article 277. How much is that – something like 60 per cent. of the income tax; 40 per cent. of the excise duties and 40 per cent. of the jute duty in certain provinces, it comes to something like Rs. 60 crores now.
