Authorities at the Chennai airport sent a prominent Maldives leader back on Monday night, prompting him to accuse India of bullying the island nation. Ahmed Nihan, the majority leader of the Maldives Parliament, had come to India for medical consultations, according to media reports.

The Maldivian government took up the matter with Akhilesh Mishra, the Indian ambassador in Male, on Tuesday, Maldivian envoy Ahmed Mohamed told The Indian Express. Mohamed himself raised the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday, he said.

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“We have asked for the reason behind him being denied entry into the country,” he said. “He has been coming here for medical consultations in the past. This time also he came for similar consultations.”

The Indian government has not commented on the matter so far.

As a member of Parliament, Nihan has a visa that allows him to travel freely in all SAARC member nations, Mohamed said.

Nihan told the media in Maldives that immigration authorities detained him at the Chennai airport for four hours when he said he was a member of Parliament. He was then asked to leave India by the next available flight, The Wire reported. He told the local media that he was not allowed to step on Indian soil because of his political affiliations.

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Maldives President Abdulla Yameen’s sister and brother-in-law were accompanying Nihan but they were allowed to enter India, according to News18. Nihan is said to be a close aide of Yameen.

New Delhi’s relations with Male had suffered a setback after the island nation signed a free trade agreement with China in 2017, which prompted India to remind Maldives of its “India First” policy. After India criticised the state of emergency Yameen imposed in Maldives in February, Chinese state media reacted, saying New Delhi should not interfere in the affairs of the Maldives. Maldives, too, rebuked India for stating that the emergency was unconstitutional.