New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS): The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for a second time till 2 p.m. Wednesday, the first day of monsoon session.

The upper house was first adjourned around 11.25 a.m., after obituary references, as members raised the issue of Assam violence and vandalisation of B.R. Ambedkar's statue in Uttar Pradesh.

As soon as the obituary references ended and Chairman Hamid Ansari called the question hour, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati stood up to raise the issue of an Ambedkar statue being vandelised in Uttar Pradesh.

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and allies were also on their feet demanding to take up Assam violence for discussion.

The chairman asked the members to raise the issue in zero hour, which led to a ruckus forcing the chairman to adjourn the house till noon.

As the house met at noon, main opposition BJP demanded taking up Assam violence, but BSP insisted on taking up Ambedkar statue issue first, which was allowed by Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien.

"Dalit leaders are being insulted by the SP (Samajwadi Party) government in Uttar Pradesh. They have changed the names of districts and universities named after Dalit leaders," Mayawati said.

"However the most worrying issue is that the statue of Baba Saheb Ambedkar was broken, it has hurt the sentiments of dalits," she said.

The chair then asked the BSP leader to conclude as the time assigned to her was over. However, BSP members created a ruckus and refused to allow other members to speak, after which the house was adjourned till 2 p.m.

Earlier, the upper house paid tribute to ex-members Niranjan Varma, Ratan Tama, Dipankar Mukherjee, Dara Singh, Bal Apte, actor Rajesh Khanna, and Captain Lakshmi Sehgal.

The upper house also expressed grief over loss of lives in Assam floods, ethnic violence in Assam and the killings at a Gurudwara in Wisconsin.