About 18 lakh employees and officers of the Uttar Pradesh government went on a flash strike on Thursday to protest attempts at “forcible passage” of the quota bill in the Rajya Sabha. Sarvjan Hitai Sanrakshan Samiti president Shailendra Dubey said here that 18 lakh employees, barring those in essential services, started boycotting work in the evening, and the protest would continue indefinitely.