The session of conflicting notions, Chronicling Savarkar started with Manu S Pillai's question "Why Savarkar?" on the final day of the fifth edition of Kerala Literature Festival.
“Savarkar has been a controversial figure. He is the chief propagator of Hindutva. For 30 to 40 years there was no single conversation about Savarkar. To address whether he is a villain or hero, I wrote the biography,” Vaibhav answered. Vikram said that the last book written on Savarkar was in 1960. So the lack of enquiry into this person's life for a long time made Vikram write his biography. "Khilafat movement was the first communal mobilization in which religion emerged as a dangerous political influence,” Vikram opined. It in turn caused the emergence of Hindutva and Hindutva does not have anything to do with the ideology of Hinduism, he added.
To Manu’s question regarding Hindutva, fascism and the postion of Savarkar in it, Vikram replied that “Savarkar is full of contradictions; he keeps changing his views and opinions. We can’t evaluate any person with intolerance.So keep your hate away and evaluate Savarkar as a historical figure.”
Vaibhav concluded the session by stating that Savarkar was controversial during his life and after death, so there was no question of whitewashing and the purpose of session was to have a conversation.