Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel, who is facing sedition charges, on Thursday began his fast in the Surat's Lajpore Jail, said Lajpore Central Jail official VD Patil.
Patel had on October 3; last year allegedly advised a Surat-based activist from his community to kill policemen rather than ending his life.
On October 18, the crime branch lodged a case of sedition and arrested him.
Besides sedition, Surat Police had also charged him in the FIR with IPC Section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups). However, the Gujarat High Court had removed that section from the FIR, but refused to drop the sedition charge against the quota agitation spearhead.