The English language in India. Despite being the imposed language of the imperial power, English also had the power to unite the nation. The story of the English language in India is also the story of the British merchants, adventurers and colonial administrators for whom the country was the Empire's jewel in the crown. Calcutta, the great Victorian capital of the Raj, holds the key to the way the language became woven into Indian consciousness, through education, government and the law. But why today, wonders Melvyn Bragg, is ex-cricketer Geoffrey Boycott such a linguistic influence?