NEW DELHI, Aug 15 (Reuter) - Tibetan refugees on Friday thanked India for supporting their exiled community and called for political backing in a time of crisis.

In a statement released on the 50th anniversary of Indian independence, the Tibetan Youth Congress thanked the government and people of India for the assistance given to the estimated 100,000 exiles who fled Tibet nearly four decades ago.

The head of the Congress, Tseten Norbu, said India had helped the Tibetans by offering land, establishing schools and providing health care.

"Above all, India has offered home to 100,000 Tibetans and offered them all the necessary livelihood," said the group, based in the Himalayan town of Dharamsala near India's border with Tibet.

"All the Tibetans are grateful for all the generosity that India has shown toward Tibet and Tibetans."

Tens of thousands of Tibetans, led by their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, left their homeland after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Many of them settled in Dharamsala in India's Himachal Pradesh state, where the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile is based.

China accuses the Dalai Lama, who won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent campaign for more autonomy for Tibet, of seeking to split Tibet from the rest of China and fanning anti-Chinese sentiment in the Himalayan region.

Norbu said in the statement that Tibetan exiles looked forward to political support for their cause after receiving so much aid from India.

"All these (have) been a continuous source of encouragement to us," he said. "All these developments we hope will naturally lead India to come forward and offer the Tibetans what they earnestly need in this time of crisis; that is, political support."