Guwahati: Stung by a recent claim of Ulfa leaders that tea garden workers are not indigenous people of Assam, at least 17 organisations, representing the community, are gearing up to counter them with facts.

The All Adivasi Students' Association of Assam has called on intellectuals, including litterateurs and several Adivasi organisations, for a rally on March 23 at Chowkidinghee playground in tea-rich Dibrugarh district to counter "the conspiracy" to label them non-indigenous.

The general secretary of the association, Deben Orang, said: "The public statement made by leaders of a section of communities that tea garden workers are not indigenous people is nothing but an insult to us. Some have said that the Adivasis did not live in Assam before the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826, but there are many references to the presence of Austric and Dravidian people in this part of the country.

"Experts told us that tea was discovered in Assam in 1824, two years before the Yandaboo Treaty; so we have reason to believe that the Adivasis lived here before the treaty was signed between the East India Company and Burmese rulers. We have called all organisations and intellectuals to the rally tocounter them (Ulfa) in public with historical facts."

Khilonjiya Mancha, Asom, an umbrella organisation of indigenous communities led by pro-talks Ulfa leader Anup Chetia, last month claimed that those who resided in Assam before the Treaty of Yandaboo on February 24, 1826 (when Assam was annexed to the British Empire) were the only indigenous folk.

The Mancha claimed that tea garden workers and Gorkhas who had settled in Assam and adopted Assamese language and culture as their own are an integral part of Assamese society, but they were not indigenous people.

Although the Gorkhas and tea garden workers reacted strongly against the claim, Ulfa (Independent), a rebel group which demands a "sovereign Assam", on February 21 had said they support the definition of "indigenous" people in Assam that was recently announced by Chetia.

"Many Adivasis came to Assam in the mid-19th century from other parts of the country (Bengal, Bihar and Odisha) to work in tea gardens, railway projects, coal and oil fields. But several intellectuals have told us that many of our forefathers lived here before the Yandaboo Treaty too. So after the rally, we will submit a memorandum to the Assam government with a call to make its stand clear and address the sense of insult among nearly 80 lakh Adivasis in Assam," Orang said.

The All Assam Tea Tribes Students' Union, Assam Cha Majdoor Sangha, Assam Tea Labour Union, Assam Tea Tribes Mahila Samiti and the International Santhal Parishad are likely to take part.