BEIJING — A prominent democracy activist said on Monday that he had been blocked from traveling to India to meet the Dalai Lama after the Chinese government urged Indian officials to rescind his visa.

The activist, Dolkun Isa, had been scheduled to attend a conference this week in Dharamsala, the Himalayan city that is home to the Tibetan government in exile. Indian officials had initially approved his visa, Mr. Isa said, but on Saturday, after China publicly denounced the decision, the government said his visa had been canceled.

“I recognize and understand the difficult position that the Indian government found itself, and regret that my trip has generated such unwarranted controversy,” Mr. Isa said in a statement.

Image Dolkun Isa is a leader of the World Uyghur Congress. Credit... Yoshikazu Tsuno/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Mr. Isa, 48, is a leader of the World Uyghur Congress, a Munich-based group that advocates self-determination for Xinjiang, an expansive region in western China that is home to a large population of Uighurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority. He now lives in Germany.