Tongue-Tied, Dumbstruck, Lip-Locked: Tharoor’s Kindle Book Climbs 36,000+ Ranks Amid Marketplace Misrepresentation
More than sixty hours after IndianRepublic.in exclusively documented a serious marketplace misrepresentation involving Shashi Tharoor’s latest book, The Sage Who Reimagined Hinduism: The Life, Lessons, & Legacy of Sree Narayana Guru, the listing remains live, uncorrected, and consequential. This is in brazen defiance of the law and utter disregard for transparency and fair play by entities concerned.
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The misattribution has operated to Tharoor’s clear commercial and reputational advantage, even as neither the publisher nor the author has publicly acknowledged it or taken visible steps to inform readers that the current listing is misleading.
At the time IndianRepublic.in first reported the misrepresentation, Tharoor’s Kindle edition was ranked #1,133 in Hinduism, #1,332 in Biographies & Autobiographies, #1,399 in Spirituality, with an overall Kindle Store rank of #43,576.
As of publication of this report, the same listing now stands at #6,702 in the Kindle Store, #161 in Biographies & Autobiographies, #225 in Hinduism, and #391 in Spirituality.
This rise has occurred without a single verified review or rating for Tharoor’s hardcover edition so far, which is correctly listed separately.
The Kindle edition’s upward movement is therefore inseparable from the inherited reputational capital of Amitava Kumar’s book, capital that Kumar’s own Kindle listing appears to have lost, as it is now effectively buried by the algorithmic prioritisation.
This is a serious question of material misrepresentation at the point of sale.
Under Indian consumer law, reviews and ratings are not decorative metadata; they are recognised proxies for quality and endorsement. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 require marketplaces to ensure that information presented to consumers is accurate and corresponds directly to the goods offered for sale.
The continued display of reviews written for one author’s book under another author’s title fails that test. Equally troubling is the silence.
IndianRepublic.in formally sent a detailed set of questions to the publisher, Aleph Book Company, seeking clarification on metadata handling, ISBN and format linkage, and corrective action. As of this writing, the publisher has neither responded on record nor issued any public acknowledgement of the error.
Transparency cannot become optional in publishing. When errors occur, especially errors that distort consumer choice and market outcomes, the ethical obligation is prompt disclosure and correction.
The absence of any public explanation suggests a disregard for readers, and for the basic norms of accountability in digital commerce. The effect is that one book continues to rise on the strength of another’s ratings, while readers are misled and fair competition is compromised.
Silence is not neutrality. It is a choice.
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