[1][2] Following this designation, Janardhan Thapa, an executive member of the group's central committee, announced that they would change their name and focus on "social and cultural activities".

Amrit Thapa, who resides in the eastern Indian metropolis of Kolkata, in West Bengal, which borders Nepal, is believed to be the vice president of ABNES.

Its most active leader in Delhi was ABNES secretary Bamdev Chettri, an employee at Jawaharlal Nehru University, till he was arrested on September 6, 2002, and subsequently deported.

It has a strong base in northern Bengal and is active in Northeast India, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in areas inhabited by ethnic Nepalese, and in stretches bordering Nepal.

A youth organisation known as the Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Vidyarthi Sangh, headed by a Kolkata-based girl named Saraswati Mohra, is closely linked to the activities of ABNES.