[2] After completing Class XII, Hardik started helping his father, Bharat, to run a small business of fixing submersible pumps in underground water wells.
He was upset when Monica's friend qualified for the same scholarship through the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota even though she had scored lower marks.
That evening, he was briefly arrested by Ahmedabad City Police when he went on fast after a rally held earlier in the day had dispersed.
[12] Violent protests broke out in response, forcing the Gujarat state government to impose a curfew and call in the Indian Army.
He was briefly detained for trying to disrupt the one-day international (ODI) cricket match between India and South Africa.
[14] On 25 July 2018, Patel was found guilty of rioting, arson, damage to property and unlawful assembly.
[24] Patel backed the campaign of the Indian National Congress (INC) in the 2017 Gujarat legislative assembly election.
[27][28] On 12 March 2019, he joined the INC.[29][30] During campaigning for the 2019 Indian general election, he made comments against people of Nepal which were described as racist while targeting incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In 2023, Hardik Patel, BJP MLA, urged Union Minister of Culture, G Kishan Reddy, to restore Munsar Lake in Gujarat's Viramgam and requested the appointment of an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team for its maintenance.
[37] Hardik Patel married his childhood friend Kinjal Parikh on 27 January 2019 in Digsar of Muli taluka, Surendranagar district, Gujarat.