After reading about this phenomenon and watching the news coverage on it on Star News, I do not think the boy ever called himself a Buddha or claims to be one. This is a label others have thrust on him. If people worship him thinking he is a Buddha, so be it. This is a matter of people?s faith. We have seen thousands of middle class and upper middle class married women following some Hindu sadhus / babas and cults all over Nepal and India. And the government actually encourages that and subsidizes their activities. Throws oodles of rupees at such institutions in the belief that strengthening Hindu institutions / cults / sadhus from all over the Indian subcontinent will strengthen the institution of monarchy, since King is believed to be an incarnation of a Hindu God. And when some chap from a Janjati community suddenly starts attracting a following, and that, too, as a Buddha incarnation, then the Hindu state suddenly has problems with that. See the double standard? I think the government that has lost all legitimacy and RONAST should keep out of this. This is a matter of people?s faith. Fact of the matter is by attracting such a huge following, this relatively innocuous phenomenon has generated a flurry of economic activity and contributed to local livelihoods, which is more than the government has ever done for this area or [possibly] ever will. Om Mani Padme Hum....