Days after taking over as Karnataka deputy chief minister, DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said that no moral policing and saffronisation will be allowed in the state. He also said that there will be a corruption-free government in Karnataka, an issue that many believe brought down the BJP government. "No more moral policing, no saffronisation, no illegal activities...there will be a corruption-free government in Karnataka," Shivakumar said.

Shivakumar's remarks assume significance as Karnataka in the last few years witnessed controversy over hijab, love jihad, and halal meat. The hijab row had started after a government-run Pre-University College for Girls at Udupi stopped girls from wearing hijab. The ‘hijab’ row took political colour as the then ruling BJP stood strongly in support of uniform-related rules followed by educational institutions, calling the headscarf, a religious symbol, while the opposition Congress came out in support of Muslim girls.

In March last year, the Karnataka High Court upheld the government's decision to ban hijab in school. The court stated that wearing the hijab was not an essential religious practice in Islam and that freedom of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution is subject to reasonable restrictions. The matter reached the Supreme Court, which gave a split verdict. In January this year, the apex court said it would consider setting up a three-judge bench for the hijab case.

After the hijab row, some right-wing organisations asked Hindus not to use halal meat during 'Hosa Tadaku' festival. However, then Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said the government had a limited role to play on the issue pertaining to halal, which he said was left to the wisdom of the people. The then-home minister said that the 'boycott halal food' campaign was not a law and order situation but something related to faith and sentiments, "which everyone knows".

Interestingly, these issues were not raised by the BJP during the election campaign in Karnataka. Then Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai said that these had been settled in public and that these were not election issues. "These issues have settled down in public, forget me," Bommai said while speaking at India Today's Karnataka Roundtable when asked whether hijab and halal were elections issues for him.

Then Congress Legislature Party leader and now Chief Minister Siddaramaiah threw his weight behind Muslim girls on their right to wear the hijab to educational institutions and accused the BJP and RSS of trying to create communal disharmony throughout Karnataka in the name of hijab.