The advent of the Eastern and Central Indian aboriginal tribes like Santhal, Kol,
Bhumij, Kurmi, Oraon, etc. as bonded labourers to the British tea gardens in Assam
marked a new era in the socio-cultural, economic and political lives of the state,
more specifically since after independence. Being a victim of a continuous influx of
illegal immigrants from Eastern Bengal (of undivided India), East Pakistan followed
by Bangladesh, Assam was relieved much when the erstwhile migrant tea workers
decided to identify themselves as Assamese (Hindu) and recognised Assamese as
their mother tongue. On the one hand, it protected the state from becoming a part
of Pakistan, and on the other, it protected the Assamese as the state language rather
than Bangla. In this context, the article explores the historical context in which the
British were forced to import those tribes rather than employing the native Assamese
as workers. It scrutinises the nature of relationship between these two groups of
labourers, that is the Assamese and the Central and Eastern Indian aborigines. It
tries to understand the role of racism, parochialism, classism in this relationship and
how whether such non-democratic values are still at work, which prevents a both
sided assimilation of these two groups of people. After independence, the imported
workers emerged as one of the most important political groups in Assam, yet they are
one of the most backward groups of the state. The article explores the current status of

the tea tribes by locating it within the larger paradigm of ethnic and identity politics
in Assam.