IMPACT: After Exposure, Amazon Removes Reviews From Tharoor’s Book But Misrepresentation Questions Remain
There has been a visible impact of IndianRepublic.in’s reporting. More than two days after this publication documented a serious marketplace misrepresentation, Amazon India has now removed the misattributed reviews and ratings from the Kindle listing of The Sage Who Reimagined Hinduism: The Life, Lessons, & Legacy of Sree Narayana Guru by Shashi Tharoor.
But the correction is incomplete and the silence surrounding it is louder than ever.
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| Representational Meme Source: MJ__Speaks on X |
Tharoor’s Kindle edition now has zero ratings and zero reviews. But it continues to enjoy the visibility gains accumulated during the period when reviews and ratings meant for Amitava Kumar’s The Social Life of Indian Trains were algorithmically attached to Tharoor’s title.
At present, Tharoor’s Kindle book is ranked #13,601 in the Kindle Store, #334 in Biographies & Autobiographies, #408 in Hinduism, and #624 in Spirituality.
These positions follow a dramatic rise of over 36,000 ranks that occurred while the misrepresentation of ratings and reviews were live.
By contrast, Kumar’s book, whose reviews were temporarily diverted, continues to perform strongly on its own merits, with a Best Sellers Rank of #5,156 in Books and #12 in Travel Writing.
Reviews and author attribution are material information in digital commerce of books. Their temporary reassignment reshaped visibility, rankings, and consumer perception.
The partial rollback, removing reviews but leaving a misleading author bio intact under product description, does not erase the distortion already introduced into the marketplace.
More troubling than the technical lapse is the ethical vacuum around it.
Neither Tharoor nor his publisher, Aleph Book Company, has issued any public clarification, acknowledgement, or explanation, despite direct questions sent by IndianRepublic.in, which remain unanswered.
Readers who encountered the listing, or pre-ordered the copy, during the affected period have not been informed that they were misled. No correction note has been posted. No transparency statement has been offered.
For a publisher that once positioned itself as a custodian of quality and integrity, the refusal to address a documented error that advantaged one of its most visible authors reflects a striking disregard for publishing ethics and fair play. These are principles that are foundational to the trade of books.
The silence is more damaging given the stature of the author involved.
Tharoor, a sitting Member of Parliament known for repeated commentary on accountability and public life and on virtually every issue under the sun, has chosen not to speak on an issue that directly benefited his commercial and reputational standing.
What defines credibility is how misconceptions are handled when one may not have been directly involved or even aware of it, of course, before the expose.
In this specific case, the correction on amazon has come only after exposure, it remains incomplete, and has been accompanied by no public accountability.
In publishing, as in public life, silence in the face of a proven misrepresentation is a position instead of neutrality, and readers are entitled to judge it.
UPDATE: After this story was published, Aleph Book Company informed IndianRepublic.in (at 11:46 AM on January 8, 2026) that it is looking into this and working with the concerned third parties to have this corrected, including other listing errors that exist on the Kindle page, such as incomplete description, date of release, etc.
The Amazon India listing now reflects accurate details.
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