(Bloomberg) -- Indian opposition leaders have raised concerns over crucial words missing from copies of the constitution handed to them on Tuesday as they entered a new parliament building. 

The copies were missing the words “secular” and “socialist,” said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a leader of the main opposition party Indian National Congress.

The words were inserted in the constitution’s preamble – which lays down the guiding principles of the document – in 1976 through the 42nd amendment by the then Congress government headed by Indira Gandhi. “Socialist” marked India’s shift toward the ideology by way of nationalization of certain critical sectors, while “secular” reiterated the principle of religious freedom, which already existed in the constitution as a fundamental right.

The current Narendra Modi-led government is often criticized for tacitly backing Hindu nationalism and creating a diminished space for minorities. Chowdhury, talking to news agency ANI, alleged that the intention of the Modi government to give a miss to such crucial words from the constitution is “suspicious.”

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party dismissed Chowdhury’s claims, saying that copies of the original constitution, before the amendments, were given.

“If what was circulated was done so as a historical or archival document then there is nothing wrong,” said Sudhir Krishnaswamy, vice chancellor of the National Law School in Bengaluru. “But if it was circulated to be the constitution as it stands today, then it is inaccurate.”

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